Lincoln,  A 
R92    Hanaford 

Abraham  Lincoln,  his 
life  and  public  services 
ROOM  STORAGE 


Central  Ubraiy 


UADENA  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

DEFERENCE 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


HIS  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


BY 

PHEBE  A.  HANAFORD 

Author  of  "  Life  of  Charles  Dickens,"  "  Life  of  George  Peabody 
"  Women  of  the  Century  " 


"  That  life  is  long  which  answers  life's  great  end." — YOUNG 

'••  God  buries  his  workmen,  but  carries  on  his  work."— CHARLES  WESLEY 

"The  righteous  hath  hope  in  his  death." — PROV.  xir.yt 


CHICAGO: 

E.    A.    WEEKS   &    COMPANY, 
521-531  Wabash  Ave. 


COPYRIGHT    1883 

BY  D.  LOTHROP  AND  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT    1895 

BY  THE  WERNER  COMPANY 


SRLf 
URL 


TO 

ALL   LOYAL   MEN   AND   WOMEN, 

NORTH    AND    SOUTH,   EAST    AND    WEST, 

TO 
THE     U  JV  I  O  A     SL  KMT    Ji  JV  D     JV  A   Y  J\ 

AW  I)  ESPECIALLT 

TO    THE    LONG -OPPK  ESS  KD    KACE    FOB    WHOM 

President  Lincoln 

WKOTB 

THE    EMANCIPATION     PROCLAMATION. 

THIS    RECORD    OF    HIS    STAINLESS    LIFE    AXD 
MARTYR'S    DEATH    IS    NOW 

INSCRIBED. 


SEP  5    1967 


PREFACE. 


It  has  been  thought  that  a  biography  of  our  martyred 
President,  brief,  yet  comprehensive,  ought  to  be  published. 

Of  this  remarkable  man  it  can  be  said,  as  it  was  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  "  The  common  people  heard  him  gladly ;  " 
and  therefore  a  memoir  expressly  designed  for  the  mass  of 
readers  in  our  country  cannot  fail  to  be  warmly  welcomed. 

Every  new  book  finds  new  readers  and  meets  some  un- 
supplied  demand.  If  a  volume  like  this  now  offered  be  in- 
deed —  as  it  is  supposed  to  be  —  a  desideratum,  its  own 
readers  for  whom  it  is  designed,  will  cluster  about  it,  and 
the  hopes  of  its  author  and  publisher  be  realized. 

The  special  aim  of  this  volume  is  twofold  :  First,  To  present 
a  truthful  picture  of  the  character  of  the  great  and  good  man 
who  has  fallen  among  us,  delineating,  as  far  as  possible  in 
narrating  the  events  of  his  life,  the  growth  and  development 
of  those  grand  and  heroic  virtues  which  stamp  him  with  the 
unmistakable  seal  of  Heaven's  approval,  and  make  his  name 

"  One  of  the  few,  the  immortal  names 
That  were  not  born  to  die." 

And  secondly,  To  sho\v  that  "  the  course  of  human  events  " 
was  such,  during  his  earthly  existence,  and  his  relation  to 
them  so  peculiar  in  the  providence  of  God,  as  to  indicate 
that  he  was  specially  commissioned  for  his  day  and  work,  — a 
man  of  the  times,  and  a  man  for  the  times ;  that  he  lived 
long  enough  to  be  able  to  say,  like  his  Lord,  "  It  is  finished," 

5 


6  PREFACE, 

and  then  passed  on  to  hear  from  divine  lips  the  unrivalled 
words  of  welcome,  "Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant! 
enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord !  " 

Should  this  volume  deepen  the  convictions  of  its  readers  in 
the  grand  truths  of  God's  sovereignty  on  earth  as  well  as  in 
heaven,  and  of  his  love  to  all  the  family  of  man,  shown 
especially  in  his  care  for  the  outcast  and  oppressed ;  and 
should  it  make  them  love  freedom  and  righteousness  more 
and  more  as  they  contemplate  the  character  and  life  of  the 
Martyr-President,  —  the  labor  spent  in  its  preparation  will 
not  have  been  in  vain,  and  to  God  will  be  ascribed  the  glory. 

P.  A.  H. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

&ARLY  DAYS  IN  OBSrt'KITY 


CHAPTER   II. 
CULTURE tt 

CHAPTER  III. 
PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  WORK    .  .  ,     at 


CHAPTER    IV. 
CALLED  TO  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  CHAIR 57 

CHAPTER    V. 
FuouBLOUS  TIMES .  .  .     81 

CHAPTER    VI. 
THE  COURSE  PURSUED 92 

CHAPTER    VII. 
PECULIAR  TRIALS 104 

CHAPTER    VIII. 
REMARKABLE  DOCUMENTS 116 

CHAPTER    IX. 


b  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  X. 
CHRISTIAN  WORDS  AND  DEEDS *••*•••    Kit 

CHAPTER  XI. 
CHOSEN  AGALN 184 

CHAPTER  XII. 
LAST  DAYS  AND  A  NATION'S  (}I:IEK 195 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS 317 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


CHAPTER  I. 

EARLY   DAYS   IN   OBSCURITY. 

"  Donor  and  shame  from  no  condition  rise: 
Act  well  your  part,  —  there  all  the  honor  lies." 

POFR. 

"  But  God  hath  chosen  the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  wise; 
aud  God  hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  things  thai 
»rc  mighty; 

'•And  base  things  of  the  world,  and  things  which  are  despised,  hath  God 
chosen,  yea,  and  things  which  are  not,  to  bring  to  nought  things  that  are : 

"That  no  flesh  should  glory  in  his  presence."— ST.  PAUL  (1  Cor.  1.  27). 

THE  sixteenth  President  of  the  United  States  was 
born  in  obscurity.  No  Gabriel  heralded  his  birth;  no 
shepherds  saw  the  star  of  his  nativity,  and  heard  the 
chanting  of  celestial  visitants  to  earth ;  nor  did  sages 
and  philosophers  come  to  his  cradle-side  with  costly 
offerings  and  significant  homage.  Yet  he  had  a  grand 
mission  on  earth  to  perform,  and  was  to  be,  in  some  sense, 
the  savior  of  many,  and  in  the  obscurity  of  his  birth,  at 
least,  resembled  the  Master  whose  footsteps  he  afterward 
loved  to  follow.  It  is  the  design  of  Infinite  Wisdom  that 
the  tiny  acorn  should  precede  the  towering  oak,  the 
little  rivulet  commence  the  mighty  river;  and  that  Wis- 
dom was  no  less  manifest  in  the  humble  birth  and 
parentage  of  one  .whom  the  good  of  all  nations,  in  all 
time,  should  afterward  delight  to  honor. 

In  that  part  of  Hardin  County,  Ky.,  now  known 
as  L,a  Ru<\  on  the  12th  of  February,  1809,  ABRAHAM 


10  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

LINCOLN  entered  upon  existence.  His  father,  Thomas 
Lincoln,  and  the  grandfather  whose  patriarchal  name  he 
bore,  were  natives  of  Rockingham  County,  Va.,  a 
part  of  the  "Old  Dominion"  to  which  their  ancestors 
had  removed  from  Berks  County,  Penn. 

Abraham,  the  grandfather,  migrated  to  Kentucky  with 
his  family  in  the  year.  1780,  where  he  obtained  possession 
of  a  small  tract  of  land  in  the  then  wilderness,  and  there 
erected  a  rude  cabin,  and  commenced  a  life  of  toil  and 
danger.  Like  the  Pilgrim  colonists  of  our  own  New 
England,  he  was  accustomed  to  carry  his  gun  with  his 
axe,  or  other  implement  of  labor,  when  he  went  forth  to 
his  toil ;  and,  when  he  laid  his  head  upon  his  nightly  pil- 
low, it  was  with  his  trusty  firelock  conveniently  at  hand, 
that  there  might  be  safety  for  him  and  his  should  the 
wild  war-whoop  of  the  savage  Indian  break  upon  his 
slumbers.  These  merciless  "  lords  of  the  forest"  manifest- 
ed intense  hostility  to  the  "  pale-faces,"  and  with  ruthless 
barbarity  murdered  men,  women,  and  children,  when  the 
opportunity  was  afforded  them.  For  four  years,  our 
President's  grandfather  was  unharmed ;  but  at  the  end 
of  that  period,  while  he  was  using  his  axe  at  a  place 
some  four  miles  from  his  home,  he  was  suddenly  attacked 
by  the  Indians,  and,  unable  to  reach  his  gun  in  season, 
was  overpowered,  killed,  and  scalped  after  the  hideous 
Indian  fashion.  Search  was  made  for  him  when  his  pro- 
longed absence  awakened  alarm,  and  the  next  morning 
his  remains  were  discovered.  This  loss  of  their  beloved 
father  resulted  finally  in  the  scattering  of  the  children. 

The  father  of  our  martyred  President  left  his  early 
home  when  only  about  twelve  years  old,  but  afterwards 
returned  to  Kentucky,  and  in  1806  married  Miss  Nancy 
Sparrow,  who  was  a  native  of  Virginia.  Both  of  our  late 
P-eaiclent's  parents  were  members  of  the  Baptist  Church, 


KARLT  DAYS  IN    OBSCURITY.  11 

*nd  well  known  as  a  pious,  unassuming,  but  uneducated 
conple.  The  father  could  neither  read  nor  write,  save  to 
scribble  his  name  in  rude  hieroglyphic  letters  which 
could  hardly  be  understood.  The  mother  could  not 
write,  but  she  could  read;  and  this  accomplishment  made 
her  seem  a  remarkable  woman  for  that  time  and  place. 
Moreover,  it  gave  her  the  power  to  .peruse  the  blessed 
volume,  and  to  read  its  holy  words  to  her  husband  for 
his  guidance  and  consolation,  and  its  interesting  stories 
to  her  beloved  son  Abraham. 

Thomas  Lincoln  appreciated  this  privilege  which  his 
wife  possessed,  and  it  deepened  his  respect  for  her;  for, 
though  himself  so  unlearned,  he  appreciated  all  the  more, 
perhaps,  the  advantages  of  education :  and  all  who  pos^ 
sessed  a  more  than  ordinary  share  of  learning  challenged 
and  received  from  him  the  most  unbounded  respect.  And, 
could  he  have  foreseen  the  career  of  his  noble  and  excel- 
lent son,  he  would  have  been  still  more  desirous  than  he 
was  that  Abraham  should  have  the  opportunity  to  study, 
and  still  more  proud  of  the  facility  with  which  he  mas- 
tered his  lessons. 

It  was  at  the  age  of  seven  that  "Abe,"  as  he  was 
familiarly  termed  in  the  home-circle,  first  began  to  attend 
school  in  a  small  academy  with  a  teacher  who  loved  not 
his  great  work,  and  was  only  anxious  that  his  pupils 
should  learn  to  read  and  write.  Having  put  into  their 
hands  the  power  to  do  these  two  great  things,  he  left 
them  to  use  that  power  or  not,  as  they  pleased.  But, 
under  this  apathetic  and  incompetent  teacher,  Abraham 
was  not  destined  long  to  stay. 

His  father  was  a  lover  of  liberty.  He  could  not  breathe 
freely  in  a  slave  State.  He  saw  the  peculiar  disadvan- 
tages of  life  for  poor  whites  in  a  land  where  labor  was 
degraded  by  slavery;  and  he  resolved  that  his  e 


12  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

should  be  relieved  from  his  own  unsatisfactory  lot  of 
hopeless  endeavor,  where  the  very  genius  loci  was 
against  him. 

Therefore,  early  in  October,  1816,  when  Abraham  was 
nearly  eight  years  old,  and  had  been  in  school  but  a  brief 
period,  the  family  removed  to  Indiana,  and  settled  in 
Spencer  County,  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  near 
the  Ohio  River,  about  midway  between  Louisville  and 
Evansville. 

The  farm  and  homestead  which  Thomas  Lincoln  sold 
could  not  have  been  very  valuable;  for  the  equivalent 
received  was  ten  barrels  of  whiskey,  valued  at  two  hun- 
dred and  eighty  dollars,  and  twenty  dollars  in  money. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  temperate  man,  and  consented  to  this 
arrangement,  not  from  any  love  of  the  "  fire-water,"  but 
because  it  was  a  customary  transaction,  and,  in  those 
days,  regarded  as  perfectly  proper. 

The  following  description  of  the  exodus  from  Kentucky 
presents  such  a  graphic  idea  of  the  early  days  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln,  that  it  is  quoted  verbatim.  The  author  is 
anonymous;  but  it  is  believed  to  be  correct  in  every 
particular :  — 

"  The  homestead  was  within  a  mile  or  two  of  the  Roll- 
ing Fork  River ;  and,  as  soon  as  the  sale  was  effected,  Mr. 
Lincoln,  with  such  slight  assistance  as  little  Abe  coul  j 
give  him,  hewed  out  a  flat-boat,  and,  launching  it,  filled 
it  with  his  household  articles  and  tools  and  the  barrels 
of  whiskey,  and  bidding  adieu  to  his  son,  who  stood  upon 
the  bank,  pushed  off,  and  was  soon  floating  down  the 
stream,  on  his  way  to  Indiana  to  select  a  new  home.  His 
journey  down  the  Rolling  Fork  and  into  the  Ohio  River 
was  successfully  accomplished;  but,  soon  afterwards, 
his  boat  was  unfortunately  upset,  and  its  cargo  thrown 
into  the  water.  Some  men  standing  on  the  bank  wit- 


KAtlLY  DAtS  It*  OH$CtJRlTr.  12 

nessed  the  accident,  and  saved  the  boat  ana  its  uwner ; 
but  all  the  contents  of  the  craft  were  lost,  except  a  few 
carpenter's  tools,  axes,  three  barrels  of  whiskey,  and  some 
other  articles.  He  again  started,  and  proceeded  to  a 
well-known  ferry  on  the  river,  from  whence  he  was 
guided  into  the  interior  by  a  resident  of  the  section  of 
country  in  which  he  had  landed,  and  to  whom  he  had 
given  his  boat  in  payment  for  his  services.  After  several 
days  of  difficult  travelling,  much  of  the  time  employed 
in  cutting  a  road  through  the  forest  wide  enough  for  a 
team,  eighteen  miles  were  accomplished,  and  Spencer 
County,  Ind.,  was  reached.  The  site  for  his  new  home 
having  been  determined  upon,  Mr.  Lincoln  left  his  goods 
under  the  care  of  a  person  who  lived  a  few  miles  distant, 
and,  returning  to  Kentucky  on  foot,  made  preparations  to 
remove  his  family.  In  a  few  days,  the  party  bade  fare- 
well to  their  old  home  and  slavery ;  Mrs.  Lincoln  and 
her  daughter  riding  one  horse,  Abe  another,  and  the 
father  a  third.  After  a  seven-days'  journey  through  an 
uninhabited  country,  their  resting-place  at  night  being  a 
blanket  spread  upon  the  ground,  they  arrived  at  the  spot 
selected  for  their  future  residence ;  and  no  unnecessary 
delays  were  permitted  to  interfere  with  the  immediate 
and  successful  clearing  of  a  site  for  a  cabin.  An  axe 
was  placed  in  Abe's  hands;  and,  with  the  additional 
assistance  of  a  neighbor,  in  two  or  three  days  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  a  neat  house  of  about  eighteen  feet  square,  the  logs 
composing  which  being  fastened  together  in  the  usual 
manner  by  notches,  and  the  cracks  between  them  filled 
with  mud.  It  had  only  one  room ;  but  some  tlabs  laid 
across  logs  overhead  gave  additional  accommodations, 
which  were  obtained  by  climbing  a  rough  ladder  in  one 
corner.  A  bed,  table,  and  four  stools,  were  then  made  by 
the  two  settlers,  father  and  son ;  and  the  building  waa 

3 


14  AMAIIAM  LINCOLN. 

ready  for  occupancy.  The  loft  was  Abe's  bed-room,  uiui 
there,  night  after  night,  for  many  years,  he  who  after- 
ward occupied  the  most  exalted  position  in  the  gift  of 
the  American  people,  and  who  dwelt  in  the  White  House 
at  Washington,  surrounded  by  all  the  comforts  that 
wealth  and  power  could  give,  slumbered,  with  one  coarse 
blanket  for  his  mattress,  and  another  for  his  covering. 


LINCOLN'S  EARLY   HOME   IN   KENTUCKY. 

"  Although  busy  during  the  ensuing  winter  with  his 
axe,  he  did  not  neglect  his  reading  and  spelling,  and  also 
practised  frequently  with  a  rifle ;  the  first  evidence  of 
his  skill  as  a  marksman  being  manifested,  much- to  the 
delight  of  his  parents,  in  the  killing  of  a  wild  turkey, 
which  had  approached  too  near  the  cabin.  The  knowledge 
of  the  use  of  the  rifle  was  indispensable  in  the  border 
settlements  at  that  time,  as  the  greater  portion  of  the 
food  required  for  the  settlers  was  procured  by  it;  and 
the  family  which  had  not  among  its  male  members  one 
or  more  who  could  discharge  it  with  accuracy  was  very 
apt  to  suffer  from  a  scarcity  of  comestibles." 


RAkLY  DAfS  Itf  OhSCVK/Tt  Ift 

When  Abe  went  to  Mr.  Hazel's  school  in  Kentucky 
he  took  with  him  a  copy  of  Dillworth's  Spelling-book, 
one  of  the  three  books  which  composed  the  whole  of  the 
family  library.  The  Bible  and  Catechism  were  the  other 
two.  Diligently  conned,  and  even  well-studied,  his 
scanty  early  library  did  much  to  form  the  character  of 
the  child  and  the  man.  The  spelling-book  was  the  key 
to  unlock  for  him  all  the  treasures  of  knowledgs  he 
afterward  made  his  own.  From  JEsop's  lesson-fraught 
fables,  soon  after  presented  to  him,  he  gained  the  aptness 
of  illustration  which  has  made  "  the  President's  last 
anecdote'*  a  byword;  and  from  the  best  of  books  and 
Catechism  he  gathered  those  ripe  sheaves  of  wisdom 
which  fitted  him  for  his  place  in  life  and  in  history. 

His  mother — noble  and  blessed  woman — was  his  in- 
spiration. She  was  determined  that  her  son  should  at 
least  learn  to  read  his  Bible ;  and,  before  God  called  her 
to  dwell  with  the  angels,  she  had  the  satisfaction  of  see- 
ing him  read  the  volume  which  he  never  afterward 
neglected.  Abraham's  mother  might  have  said,  as  did 
Mary  the  mother  of  Jesus,  "  From  henceforth  all  gen- 
erations shall  call  me  blessed ;  "  and  while  this  nation 
shall  revere  the  name  and  memory  of  the  mother  of 
George  Washington,  side  by  side  with  hers  will  it 
write  the  name  of  the  mother  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  The 
parallel  between  Washington  and  Lincoln  did  not  linger 
here.  It  paused  not  till  the  bells  tolled  a  requiem,  and 
a  nation  once  more  wept  over  its  beloved  dead.  True, 
there  were  apparent  points  of  difference,  but  only  such 
as,  under  Providence,  were  needed  to  fit  each  for  their 
separate  duties  and  destinies  as  leaders  of  the  American 
people  in  their  two  great  wars,  —  one  for  national  inde- 
pendence, the  other  for  national  unity. 

Washington   was   of  a  family  renowned  in  English 


16  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

heraldry.  Lincoln  could  trace  an  honorable  descant 
from  Quaker  stock  in  Pennslyvania. 

"  Washington  was  the  natural  representative  of  na- 
tional independence.  He  might  also  have  represented 
national  unity,  had  this  principle  been  challenged  to 
bloody  battle  during  his  life  ;  for  nothing  was  nearer  his 
heart  than  the  consolidation  of  our  Union,  which,  in  his 
letter  to  Congress  transmitting  the  Constitution,  he  de- 
clared to  be  the  greatest  interest  of  every  true  Ameri- 
can. .  .  .  But  another  person  was  needed,  of  different 
birth  and  simpler  life,  to  represent  the  ideas  which  were 
now  assailed."  * 

There  were  not  a  few  contrasts  —  in  origin,  in  early 
life,  in  condition  and  opportunities — between  Washing- 
ton and  Lincoln,  but  the  parallels  are  more  numerous ; 
and  Washington  himself  had  a  mighty  influence  on  the 
boy  Lincoln  through  the  record  of  his  life,  which  Abra- 
ham read  while  yet  a  dweller  in  the  rude  log-cabin  on 
the  outskirts  of  civilization.  One  biographer  f  of  Lincoln 
Bays,  "  The  hatchet  story  of  Washington,  which  has 
done  more  to  make  boys  truthful  than  a  hundred  solemn 
exhortations,  made  a  strong  impression  upon  Abraham, 
and  was  one  of  those  unseen,  gentle  influences  which 
helped  to  form  his  character  for  integrity  and  honesty. 
Its  effect  may  be  traced  in  the  following  story,  which 
bids  fair  to  become  as  never-failing  an  accompaniment 
to  a  Life  of  Lincoln  as  the  hatchet  case  to  that  of  Wash- 
ington :  — 

"  Mr.  Crawford  had  lent  him  a  copy  of  Ramsay's  '  Life 
of  Washington.'  During  a  severe  storm,  Abraham  im- 
proved his  leisure  by  reading  this  book.  One  night  he 
laid  it  down  carefully,  as  he  thought,  and  the  next  morn- 

«  "  Eulogy  on  Abraham  Lincoln,"  by  Hon.  Charles  Sumner. 
*  H?nry  J.  Raymond. 


KARLY  DATS   IX   OBSCURITY.  17 

ing  he  found  it  soaked  through.  The  wind  had  jhaugod, 
the  storm  had  beaten  in  through  a  crack  in  the  logs,  and 
the  appearance  of  the  book  was  ruined.  How  could  he 
face  the  owner  under  such  circumstances  ?  He  had  no 
money  to  offer  as  a  return  ;  but  he  took  the  book,  went 
directly  to  Mr.  Crawford,  showed  him  the  irreparable 
injury,  and  frankly  and  honestly  offered  to  work  for  him 
until  he  should  be  satisfied.  Mr.  Crawford  accepted  the 
offer,  and  gave  Abraham  the  book  for  his  own  in  return 
for  three  days'  steady  labor  in  '  pulling  fodder.'  His 
manliness  and  straight-forwardness  won  the  esteem  of 
the  Crawfords,  and  indeed  of  all  the  neighborhood." 

Rev.  William  M.  Thayer  states,  probably  on  the  au- 
thority of  those  who  knew  Abraham  Lincoln  in  early 
life,  that,  "during  the  long  winter  evenings  of  that  first 
winter  in  Indiana,  he  read  by  the  light,  of  the  fire  only ; 
for  they  could  not  afford  the  luxury  of  any  other  light 
in  their  cabin.  This  was  true,  very  generally,  of  the 
pioneer  families  :  they  had  no  more  than  was  absolutely 
necessary  to  supply  their  wants.  They  could  exist 
without  lamp-oil  or  candles,  and  so  most  of  them  did 
without  either.  They  could  afford  the  largest  fire  possi- 
ble, since  wood  was  so  plenty  that  they  studied  to  get 
rid  of  it.  Hence  the  light  of  the  fire  was  almost  equal 
to  a  good  chandelier.  Large  logs  and  branches  of  wood 
were  piled  together  in  the  fireplace,  and  its  mammoth 
blaze  lighted  up  every  nook  and  corner  of  the  dwelling. 
Hence  lamps  were  scarcely  needed." 

Not  long  after  the  removal  of  the  family  to  Indiana, 
the  mother  of  Lincoln  died.  This  was  a  sad  loss  to  the 
whole  of  the  little  circle,  especially  to  the  children. 
Abraham  had  one  sister  who  lived  to  womanhood,  waa 


l8  ABRAHAM 

married,  and  died  shortly  after,  leaving  no  children.  His 
only  brother  died  in  infancy.  Mrs.  Lincoln,  as  has  been 
intimated,  was  one  of  the  most  devoted  of  mothers,  spar- 
ing no  pains  to  insure  the  welfare  of  her  beloved  chil- 
dren. Abraham  was  always  a  dutiful  son,  and  her  coun- 
sel and  example  were  not  lost  on  him,  but,  as  good  seed 
sown  on  good  ground,  her  instructions  sprang  forth  into 
a  life  of  good  order  and  usefulness.  The  bereaved  boy 
was  almost  inconsolable  at  her  loss.  No  minister  was 
near  to  pray  with  the  survivors  as  they  laid  down  the 
dear  head  of  the  wife  and  mother  for  the  last,  long  sleep 
amid  the  shadows  of  the  forest.  Sympathizing  neigh- 
bors gathered  around;  but  the  want  of  a  minister  to 
conduct  the  usual  solemn  rites  of  Christian  burial  was 
deeply  felt.  Some  months  afterward,  Abraham  had  an 
opportunity  of  learning  to  write,  which  with  character- 
istic energy  and  industry  he  faithfully  improved.  "  Af- 
ter a  few  weeks  of  practice  under  the  eye  of  his  in- 
structor, and  also  out  of  doors  with  a  piece  of  chalk  or 
charred  stick,  he  was  able  to  write  his  name,  and  in  less 
than  twelve  months  could  and  did  write  a  letter." 

One  of  the  first  letters  he  wrote  was  to  an  old  friend 
of  his  mother,  a  travelling  preacher,  whom  he  desired  to 
come  and  preach  her  funeral  sermon.  Parson  Elkins  did 
not  receive  the  letter  for  some  three  months  ;  but  then 
he  hastened  to  Indiana,  and  the  neighbors  again  assem- 
bled —  a  year  after  her  death  —  to  pay  a  last  tribute  of 
respect  to  one  universally  beloved.  Abraham's  services 
as  a  letter-writer  were  thus  known,  and  he  soon  found 
himself  busied  in  writing  letters  for  his  neighbors. 

President  Lincoln  never  forgot  his  mother.  It  was 
very  long  before  the  loneliness  and  desolation  of  that 
sad  bereavement  passed  away.  Her  lessons  of  diviuest 
wisdcm  he  kept  stored  in  his  heart,  and  all  her  hallowed 


EARLY  DATS  Itf  OBSCURITY.  19 

influence  was  eternally  sealed  upon  his  soul  by  her  de- 
parture from  earth.  Who  shall  say  that  it  was  not  deep- 
ened and  intensified  by  that  very  change  which  gave 
aer  henceforth  more  intimate  communion  with  spirits, 
and  possibly  with  the  spirit  of  her  son  ?  Her  grave,  to 
which  hallowed  spot  the  bereaved  son  was  wont  fre- 
quently to  repair,  and  muse  upon  his  great  loss  and  her 
eternal  gain,  is  still  embowered  amid  the  majestic  forest- 
trees  of  that  region.  No  tombstone  yet  denotes  the 
sacred  spot ;  and  the  place  where  the  remains  lie  buried 
is  an  unfrequented  locality,  or  nearly  so.  President  Lin- 
coln wrote  a  letter,  shortly  before  his  death,  expressing 
his  intention  to  visit  the  grave  during  the  approach- 
ing summer,  and  cause  a  suitable  monument  to  be  erect- 
ed; and  in  that  letter,  which  was  to  an  old  friend,  he 
expressed  regret  that  care  and  business  had  so  long  hin- 
dered him  from  performing  this  duty. 

He  will  never  perform  it.  Instead  of  going  to  her 
grave,  he  has  gone  to  her ;  and  blissful  beyond  human 
computation  must  have  been,  ere  this,  the  meeting  of 
such  a  mother  with  such  a  son.  Yet  that  humble 
grave  should  not  be  neglected.  A  nation  owes  it  to  the 
memory  of  a  President  martyred  in  its  holy  cause  that 
his  mother's  tomb  should  be  honorably  distinguished. 

During  the  next  year  after  Mrs.  Lincoln's  death,  Abra- 
ham's father  married  again,  and  secured  in  Mrs.  Sally 
Johnston  of  Elizabethtown,  Kentucky,  a  worthy  step- 
mother for  his  children.  She  had  three  children,  and 
seemed  to  have  been  one  who  could  say  with  Mrs. 
Howe,  — 

"  Then  spoke  the  angel  of  mothers 

To  me  in  gentle  tone, 
4  Be  kind  to  the  children  of  others, 
And  thus  deserve  thine  own.'  " 

Between  her  and  the  son  to  whom  she  became  a  true 


20  AHR AII AM  LINCOLN. 

friend  as  well  as  a  step-mother  sprang  up  a  devoted  at- 
tachment; and  she  ever  acted  as  if  she  said  to  him  in 
tender  tones  of  ardent  sympathy,  using  the  words  of 
Mrs.  Welby,- 

"  Child  of  the  lost,  the  buried,  and  the  sainted, 

I  call  thee  mine, 

Till  fairer  still,  with  tears  and  sin  untainted, 
Her  home  be  thine." 

Step-mothers  are  not  all  heartless,  and  those  who,  like 
the  writer  of  these  pages,  have  known  the  devoted  care 
and  tender  love  of  a  good  step-mother,  do  not  like  to  hear 
them  as  a  class  condemned.  This  second  mother  of  our 
late  President  still  survives  to  remember  his  nobleness 
of  soul,  and  to  mourn  his  martyrdom.  She  resides  at 
Goose  Nest,  Coles  County,  eight  miles  south  of  Charles- 
town,  Illinois. 

A  few  years  after  the  death  of  his  mother,  a  Mr.  Craw- 
ford, one  of  the  settlers,  opened  a  school  in  his  own 
cabin;  and  thither  Abraham  regularly  repaired  to  add  a 
knowledge  of  arithmetic  to  his  reading  and  writing. 
His  appearance  was  in  keeping  with  his  humble  home. 
He  was  arrayed  in  buckskin  clothes,  with  a  raccoon-skin 
cap,  and  carried  an  old  arithmetic,  which  had  been  in- 
dustriously sought  for  his  benefit.  "  His  progress  was 
rapid,  and  his  perseverance  and  faithfulness  won  the  in- 
terest and  esteem  of  his  teacher."  His  love  of 'books 
continued,  and  he  read  all  that  he  could  obtain  far  and 
near.  With  the  immortal  dreamer  of  Bedford  jail,  he 
traced  the  pathway  of  the  Christian  pilgrim  from  the 
City  of  Destruction  to  his  Celestial  Home  beyond  the 
river ;  and  no  doubt  he  felt  that  he,  too,  would  gladly 
follow  such  a  path,  sure  as  he  was  that  his  own  dear 
mother  would  be  one  of  the  shining  ones  to  greet  him 
on  the  heavenly  shore.  He  pored  over  such  books  as 


KAKLY   DATS   Iff   OBSCURITY.  21 

the  "  Lives  of  Clay  and  Washington,"  till  the  fires  of  a 
noble  emulation  and  true  patriotism  glowed  in  his  heart; 
and  he  thus  daily  grew  more  and  more  to  be  of  the  very 
spirit  of  which  heroic  leaders  and  wise  counsellors  are 
made.  God  was-  fitting  him,  even  in  his  childhood  and 
his  youth,  for  the  very  work  which  was  before  him. 
Bishop  Simpson  expressed  this  idea  in  his  funeral  sermon 
at  Springfield,  Illinois,  on  the  4th  of  May,  1865.  lie 
said,  "  Mr.  Lincoln  was  no  ordinary  man.  I  believe  the 
conviction  has  been  growing  on  the  nation's  mind,  as  it 
certainly  has  been  on  my  own,  especially  in  the  last  years 
of  his  administration,  that  by  the  hand  of  God  he  was 
especially  singled  out  to  guide  our  Government  in  these 
troublesome  times ;  and  it  seems  to  me  that  the  hand  of 
God  may  be  traced  in  many  of  the  events  connected 
with  his  history.  First,  then,  I  recognize  this  in  the 
physical  education  which  he  received,  and  which  pre- 
pared him  for  enduring  herculean  labors.  In  the  toils 
of  his  boyhood,  and  the  labors  of  his  manhood,  God  was 
giving  him  an  iron  frame.  Next  to  this  was  his  identifi- 
cation with  the  heart  of  this  great  people,  understanding 
their  feelings  because  he  was  one  of  them,  and  con- 
nected with  them  in  their  movements  and  life.  His 
education  was  simple.  A  few  months  spent  in  the 
schoolhouse  gave  him  the  elements  of  education.  He 
read  few  books,  but  mastered  all  he  read.  'Pilgrim's 
Progress,'  'JSsop's  Fables/  and  the  '  Life  of  Washington,' 
were  his  favorites.  In  these  we  recognize  the  works 
which  gave  the  bias  to  his  character,  and  which  partly 
moulded  his  style.  His  early  life,  with  its  varied  strug- 
gles, joined  him  indissolubly  to  the  working  masses ;  and 
no  elevation  in  society  diminished  his  respect  for  the  sons 
of  toil.  He  knew  what  it  was  to  fell  the  tall  trees  of  the 
forest,  and  to  stem  the  current  of  the  broad  Mississippi. 


72  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

His  home  was  i/jthe  growing  West,  the  heart  of  the  Re 
public ;  and,  invigorated  by  the  wind  which  swept  over 
its  prairies,  he  learned  lessons  of  self-reliance  which  sus- 
tained him  in  seasons  of  adversity." 

Bishop  Simpson's  allusion  to  Abraham's  efforts  on  the 
broad  bosom  of  the  "  Father  of  Waters  "  was  founded, 
doubtless,  on  the  fact,  that,  when  about  nineteen  years 
of  age,  Abraham  accompanied  the  son  of  the  owner  of  a 
flatboat,  who  intrusted  a  valuable  cargo  to  their  care,  to 
the  city  of  New  Orleans.  He  was  hired  at  the  rate  of 


FLATBOAT. 


ten  dollars  a  month,  and  the  twain  composed  the  -only 
crew.  With  only  one  companion,  it  was  rather  a  danger, 
ous  journey.  "  At  night  they  tied  up  alongside  of  the 
bank,  and  rested  upon  the  hard  deck,  with  a  blanket  for 
a  covering ;  and  during  the  hours  of  light,  whether  their 
lonely  trip  was  cheered  by  a  bright  sun,  or  made  dis- 
agreeable in  the  extreme  by  violent  storms,  their  craft 
floated  down  the  stream,  its  helmsmen  never  for  a  mo- 
ment losing  their  spirits,  or  regretting  their  acceptance 


EARLY  DATS  IN  OBSCURITT. 


23 


of  the  positions  they  occupied.  Nothing  occurred  to 
u\ar  the  success  of  the  trip,  nor  the  excitement  naturally 
incident  to  a  flatboat  expedition  of  some  eighteen  hun- 
dred miles,  save  a  midnight  attack  by  a  party  of  negroes, 
who,  after  a  severe  conflict,  were  compelled  to  flee." 

In  the  spring  of  1830,  the  Lincoln  family  again  sought 
a  new  home.  Their  journey,  in  a  region  where  roads 
were  rough  and  railroads  unknown,  was  made  in  fifteen 
days.  They  carried  their  goods  in  large  wagons  drawn 
by  oxen,  and  Abraham  himself  drove  one  of  the  teams. 
They  halted  on  the  north  side  of  the  Sangamon  River,  at 
a  place  about  ten  miles  west  of  Decatur,  Illinois.  While 
crossing  the  bottom  lands  of  the  Kaskaskia  River  on  their 
way,  the  men  of  the  party  were  obliged  to  wade  through 
water  several  feet  deep.  So  the  journey  was  not  ac- 


LINCOLN'S   FIRST  HOUSE  IN   ILLINOIS. 

complished  without  some  hindrances.  On  their  arrivM 
a  log-cabin  was  to  be  built,  ground  broker,  for  covn.  ant1 
a  rail-fence  to  be  made  around  the  farm,  in  all  of  which 
Abraham  labored  faithfully.*  Those  rails  have  been  im- 

*  In  this  work  the  Lincolns  were  assisted  by  a  relative  of  Abraham's 
mother,  named  John  Hanks.  While  this  volume  was  in  preparation,  Mr. 
Han  kg  was  m  Bostou  exhibiting  this  identical  log-cabin,  together  with  other  relic* 


24  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

mortalized  by  orators  and  poets,  and  will  henceforth  be 
mentioned  by  historians.  Sumner  says,  "  These  rails 
have  become  classical  in  our  history,  and  the  name  of 
'  rail-splitter'  has  been  more  than  the  degree  of  a  college. 
Not  that  the  splitter  of  rails  is  especially  meritorious, 
but  because  the  people  are  proud  to  trace  aspiring  talent 
to  humble  beginnings,  and  because  they  found  in  this 
tribute  a  new  opportunity  of  vindicating  the  dignity  of 
free  labor,  and  of  repelling  the  insolent  pretensions  of 
slavery."  The  newspaper  report  of  the  first  public  men- 
tion of  Abraham  Lincoln  as  a  rail-splitter  is  as  follows: 
"  During  the  sitting  of  the  Republican  State  Convention 
at  Decatur,  a  banner  attached  to  two  of  these  rails,  and 
bearing  an  appropriate  inscription,  was  brought  into  the 
assemblage,  and  formally  presented  to  that  body,  amid  a 
scene  of  unparalleled  enthusiasm.  After  that,  they  were 
in  demand  in  every  State  in  the  Union  in  which  free 
labor  is  honored,  where  they  were  borne  in  processions 
of  the  people,  and  hailed  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
freemen  as  a  symbol  of  triumph,  and  as  a  glorious  vindi- 
cation of  freedom  and  of  the  rights  and  dignity  of  free 
labor.  These,  however,  were  far  from  being  the  first  or 
only  rails  made  by  Lincoln.  He  was  a  practised  hand  at 
the  business.  Mr.  Lincoln  has  now  a  cane  made  from 
one  of  the  rails  split  by  his  own  hands  in  bcj'-hood." 

of  Lincoln's  early  clays  of  poverty  and  obscurity.  He  is  an  honest-looking 
gentleman,  with  a  silvery  beard,  about  seven  years  older  than  Mr.  Lincoln,  but 
much  more  venerable  in  appearance.  He  can  neither  read  nor  write.  He  says 
that  his  cousin  Dennis  F.  Hanks  taught  "little  Abe"  his  letters.  The  log- 
cabin  above  mentioned  has  no  windows;  but  a  half  sheet  of  paper  oiled,  placed 
in  a  sort  of  wooden  shutter,  admitted  a  little  light  when  the  shutter  was  closed. 
It  is  said  to  be  truly  a  Union  cabin,  having  in  it  sticks  of  oak,  hickory,  hack- 
berry,  red  elm,  walnut,  basswood,  honey,  locust,  and  sassafras,  but,  it  is  be- 
lieved, not  a  stick  of  pine.  The  dimensions  are  eighteen  feet  by  sixteen;  and 
it  is  nine  logs,  or  about  eight  feet,  high.  It  has  a  peaked  roof,  the  highest  part 
of  which  is  about  five  foot  from  the  level  of  its  eaves.  It  was  begun  March 
80,  1830;  aud  fiur  days  were  spent  in  building  it. 


KARLT    DAYS   AV   OBSCURITY.  25 

Thus  in  the  foregoing  pages  have  been  depicted  the 
events  and  influences  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  life  during 
his  early  days.  In  the  eloquent  language  of  his  eulogist 
in  the  "  Athens  of  America,"  on  the  day  set  apart  for 
commemorative  services  all  over  the  land,  this  chapter 
may  be  fittingly  closed  :  — 

"His  youth  was  now  spent,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  he  left  his  father's  house  to  begin  the  world  for  him- 
self. A  small  bundle,  a  laughing  face,  and  an  honest 
Heart,  —  these  were  his  visible  possessions,  together  with 
that  unconscious  character  and  intelligence  which  his 
country  afterward  learned  to  prize.  In  the  long  history 
of  '  worth  depressed/  there  is  no  instance  of  such  a  con- 
trast between  the  depression  and  the  triumph,  unless, 
perhaps,  his  successor  as  President  may  share  with  him 
this  distinction.  No  academy,  no  university,  no  alma 
mater  of  science  or  learning,  had  nourished  him.  No 
government  had  taken  him  by  the  hand,  and  given  to  him 
the  gift  of  opportunity.  No  inheritance  of  land  or  money 
had  fallen  to  him.  No  friend  stood  by  his  side.  lie  was 
alone  in  poverty  ;  and  yet  not  all  alone.  There  was  God 
above,  who  watches  all,  and  does  not  desert  the  lowly. 
Simple  in  life  and  manners,  and  knowing  nothing  of  form 
or  ceremony,  with  a  village  schoolmaster  for  six  months 
as  his  only  teacher,  he  had  grown  up  in  companionship 
\vith  the  people,  with  nature,  with  trees,  with  the  fruitful 
corn,  and  with  the  stars.  While  yet  a  child,  his  father 
had  borne  him  away  from  a  soil  wasted  by  slavery;  and 
he  was  now  the  citizen  of  a  free  State,  where  free 
labor  had  been  placed  under  the  safeguard  of  irreversi- 
ble compact  and  fundamental  law.  And  thus  closed  the 
youth  of  the  future  President,  happy  at  least  that  he 
could  go  forth  under  the  day-star  of  Liberty." 


CHAPTER  IL 

CULTURE. 

"  The  more  our  spirits  are  enlarged  on  earth, 
The  deeper  draught  will  they  receive  of  heaven." 

"  The  righteous  shall  flourish  like  the  palm-tree ;  he  shall  grow  like  a  cedar  in 
Lebanon."  —  1'SALM  xcii.  12. 

THE  celebrated  German  poet  Goethe  once  made  this 
instructive  declaration,  in  a  conversation  with  his  friend 
Eckerman :  "  Each  bon-mot  has  cost  me  a  purse  of  gold : 
half  a  million  of  my  own  mono}7,  the  fortune  I  inherited, 
my  salary,  and  the  large  income  I  have  derived  from  my 
writings  for  fifty  years  back,  have  been  expended  to  in- 
struct me  in  what  I  know."  Men  are  apt  to  overlook 
the  stupendous  price  at  which  they  have  every  thing; 
and  the  culture  which  has  only  been  secured  through  a 
civilization  which  has  cost  suffering  and  toil  and  thought, 
and  even  heroism  and  martyrdom,  is  still  deemed  to  have 
been  obtained  without  much  expenditure,  when,  in  fact, 
it  was  priceless ;  so  much  so,  that  to  ask  its  amount  is 
almost  like  asking,  with  the  Lord  Jesus,  "What  shall  it 
profit  a  maa  if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his 
own  soul?  or  what  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his 
soul?" 

We  think  of  that  log-cabin  in  the  woods,  of  the  inele- 
gant surroundings  of  the  future  President,  and  say,  "  Such 
a  man  was  not  cultured,  and  it  cost  nothing  to  train  him 
for  duty  and  destiny."  But  it  did  cost  much :  not,  it  may 
be,  of  money,  though  more  of  that  than  a  superficial 
observer  might  suppose  ;  but  labor  and  influence  and 

M 


CULTURE.  27 

prayers,  and  the  silent  but  powerful  ministrations  of  Na- 
ture and  Nature's  God  with  his  angelic  messengers,  who 
are  declared  to  be  "ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to  min- 
ister for  them  who  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation." 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  not  a  man  of  science,  or  a  literary 
man,  as  men  often  use  those  terms.  He  would  not  be 
classed  with  Humboldt  or  Newton,  nor  with  Scott  or 
Irving;  but  he  was  nevertheless  a  man  of  culture.  La- 
bor made  him  such ;  his  own  earnest  efforts  to  gain 
learning,  his  parents'  efforts  that  he  should  obtain  at  least 
the  rudiments  of  an  education,  and  enter,  at  all  events, 
the  porch  of  the  temple  of  wisdom,  and  the  labor  of  in- 
structors who  must  have  been  encouraged  by  the  earnest 
attention  and  patient  industry  of  the  boy  for  whom  God 
had  in  store  a  high  place  and  a  noble  work.  Influence  — 
the  influence  of  mighty  rulers  in  the  realm  of  mind, 
mighty  though  few  —  was  brought  to  bear  upon  his 
nascent  spirit  for  its  growth  and  culture.  Plutarch  and 
^Esop,  Washington,  and  Franklin,  and  Clay,  lived  for 
Abraham  Lincoln,  as  well  as  for  others  whom  they  have 
influenced  in  the  paths  of  honor  and  virtue.  And  the 
tinker  of  Bedford,  whose  immortal  allegory  wreathes  its 
author's  head  with  the  unfading  laurels,  —  he,  too,  had  no 
mean  part  in  the  culture  of  a  man  who  has  proved  him- 
self often  a  Great-Heart,  but  never  a  Worldly-wise-Man. 
And,  above  all,  the  historians  and  prophets  of  ancient 
times,  the  Hebrew  bards  whose  harps  will  never  cease 
to  echo  through  the  ages,  the  apostolic  teachers  of  the 
dawning  Christian  era,  and  especially  He  who  "spake 
as  never  man  spake,"  —  all  had  their  mighty  and  far-reach- 
ing influence  on  the  mind  of  the  boy,  who,  like  young 
Timothy,  studied  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  early  accepted 
them  as  a  "  lamp  to  his  feet  and  a  light  to  his  path." 

Prayers,  too,  had  something  to  do  with  his  culture. 


28  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

There  may  be  those  who  scoff  at  prayer,  who  scout  the 
idea  once  expressed  in  rhythmical  harmony,  that  — 

"  Prayer  moves  the  hand  which  moves  the  world;  " 

but  as  there  are  forces  in  Nature  whose  origin  and  in- 
fluence we  cannot  fully  explain,  while  yet  we  are  com- 
pelled to  acknowledge  their  existence ;  so,  though  we 
may  not  comprehend  how  prayer  accomplishes  its  di- 
vinely appointed  ends,  yet  it  is  none  the  less  true  that 
prayer  is  a  power  in  the  universe.  Other  things  being 
equal,  he  that  has  most  power  in  prayer  is  surest  of  suc- 
cess ;  for  in  prayer  he  takes  hold  of  the  arm  of  God,  joins 
to  his  weakness  the  infinite  strength,  and  finds  himself 
possessed  of  the  true  Archimedean  lever. 

Abraham  Lincoln's  mother  was  a  praying  woman. 
"  She  who  would  rather  her  son  would  '  learn  to  read 
his  Bible  than  own  a  farm'  was  a  true,  model  mother; 
and  when  in  his  early  childhood  a  green  mound  in  the 
wilderness  showed  that  she  had  finished  her  course,  and 
gained  her  reward,  well  might  that  boy  Lincoln  visit 
that  holy  place,  and  weep  lor  very  bitterness  of  soul."  * 
The  prayers  of  such  a  woman  must  have  been  answered 
in  the  dew  of  grace  that  early  fell  upon  the  soul  of  her 
motherless  boy.  There  were  other  prayers,  too,  which 
undoubtedly  had  their  unseen  influence  in  the  culture 
of  Abraham  Lincoln.  Far  away  in  the  rice-swamps  and 
cotton-plantations  of  the  South,  a  long-oppressed  race 
were  crying  for  deliverance.  Worse  task-masters  than 
those  of  Egypt  were  crushing  out  the  very  manhood  and 
womanhood  of  the  slavery-cursed  people ;  and  the  de- 
spairing cry  of  agony  went  up  to  heaven,  in  the  tears 
and  groans  and  prayers  of  long,  long  years,  for  a  de- 

»  itev.  A.  Caldwell'i  Address. 


CULTURK.  29 

liverer.  God  lieard  those  prayers  ;  and  tslowly  to  our 
eyes  and  to  their  waiting  hearts,  but  more  surely  for  the 
fulfilment  of  his  own  grand  purposes  of  love  and  mercy, 
he  prepared  the  man  who  should  grasp  the  keys  of  des- 
tiny with  a  firm  hand  but  a  tender  heart,  and  unlock  the 
doors  of  the  prison-house.  And  so  prayer  cultured  Abra- 
ham Lincoln. 

But  how  describe  the  culture  which  that  great  soul 
received  from  Nature  with  her  myriad  forms  of  beauty, 
and  from  God  and  the  angels?  The  receptive  mind, 
consciously  or  unconsciously  (and  more  often  the  latter) 
is  powerfully  impressed  with'  the  wonders  of  the  out- 
ward world  ;  and  Abraham  Lincoln  was  one  of  those  who 
could  not  witness  that  awakening  of  the  spring-time, 
which  Longfellow  calls  "  the  great  annual  miracle  of  Na- 
ture," without  receiving  lasting  and  salutary  impres- 
sions. So,  too,  the  "  soft  summer-time,"  autumn  with 
its  golden  glory,  and  the  winter  with  its  crystals  of 
geometric  beauty  covering  the  earth  with  a  snowy  car- 
pet,—  all  taught  him  divinest  lessons.  There  was  no 
Vatican,  nor  British  Museum,  nor  Astor  Library,  with 
their  myriad  volumes,  to  aid  in  his  intellectual  culture  ; 
but  he  early  learned  to  find  — 

"  Tongues  in  the  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks, 
Sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  every  thing;  " 

and  his  young  soul  grew  more  and  more. 

Angels  from  the  world  of  light  hovered  around  his 
pathway,  as  long  ago  around  his  Lord,  and  as  they  en- 
camp around  all  God's  dear  children.  The  dream  of 
Doddridge,  which  showed  him  an  angel-guardian  in  many 
a  scene  of  danger  through  which  he  had  passed,  was  but 
a  truthful  expression  of  the  fact  that  the  "  cloud  of  wit- 
nesses" ever  around  the  immortal  but  earth-veiled  spirit 


30  ABRAHAM 

of  the  child  of  God  are  fulfilling  grand  purposes   of 
blessing  to  the  soul  they  guard. 

Above  all,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  taught  of  God.  The 
"  still  small  voice  "  was  not  unheard  by  him  from  early 
infancy.  His  own  prayers  mingled  with  those  already 
mentioned,  and  the  Great  Spirit  heard  and  answered. 
The  divine  utterance  in  his  own  soul  was  not  unheeded ; 
and  day  by  day  listening  to  it,  and  heeding  its  require- 
ments, he  not  only  "  grew  in  wisdom  and  in  stature," 
but,  like  the  Holy  Child,  he  also  "  grew  in  favor  with 
God  and  man." 

"The  man  who  is  complete  in  that  for  which  the  world 
wants  him,"  as  Abraham  Lincoln  was,  "  seems  not  only  to 
bo  suited  for  his  work,  but  to  have  had  all  circumstances 
suited  to  him.  He  is  born  in  the  right  age  of  history. 
The  proper  spot  of  earth  waits  for  him  and  receives 
him.  The  household  into  which  he  enters  appears  best 
for  him  amidst  all  the  households  of  humanity.  So  per- 
haps it  might  not  be  judged  in  many  a  case  if  we  saw 
the  man  in  the  first  stages  of  his  nurture ;  but  so  we 
find  it  when  we  can  see  his  life  in  its  issues.  A  similar 
adaptation  may  be  noticed  in  any  remarkable  man's 
tastes,  trials,  and  pursuits  ;  in  all,  indeed,  that  subserves 
his  training  and  his  experience."*  Abraham  Lincoln 
became  just  such  a  remarkable  man,  after  a  youth  spent 
in  receiving  just  the  culture  of  heart  and  mind 'needed 
for  his  place  in  the  world. 

The  early  days  of  Lincoln,  spent  in  the  obscurity  of 
his  forest  home,  have  already  been  traced.  His  removal 
to  Illinois  brought  him  to  new  scenes,  and  under  new 
influences.  He  was  now  to  be  cultured  by  society  in  a 
greater  degree  than  ever  before. 

•  "  Illustrations  of  Genius,"  by  Rev.  Henry  Giles. 


CULTURE.  31 

Having  passed  his  twenty-first  birthday,  he  began  in 
1831  to  labor  for  himself.  He  aided  to  build  a  flatboat, 
and  then  went  in  it  to  New  Orleans,  and  so  satisfactorily 
cared  for  boat  and  cargo,  that  his  employer  took  him 
into  his  store  at  New  Salem,  twenty  miles  below  Spring- 
field. Here  for  a  twelvemonth  he  became  more  familiar 
with  arithmetic  ;  and  here  he  so  dealt  with  his  customers, 
and  so  conducted  himself  in  all.  the  relations  of  life,  that 
he  began  to  be  known  as  "  Honest  Abe,"  —  an  honorable 
title  which  will  never  be  taken  away;  for  he  never  for- 
feited it. 

Athletic  and  active,  young  Lincoln  could  not  fail  to 
engage  in  the  usual  out-door  sports  of  young  men  in  that 
place,  and  was  usually  the  acknowledged  judge  of  the 
games,  whose  integrity  or  good  judgment  was  unques- 
tionable. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  the  culture  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  that  which  would  make  him  shine  in  polite  society. 
His  uncouth,  awkward  form  and  homely  visage,  his  un- 
polished dress  and  address,  wore  to  be  expected  from  his 
pioneer  life ;  but  his  soul  was  robed  in  beauty  which  the 
angels  could  discern,  and  which  all  high  souls,  to  whom  he 
was  known  on  earth,  sooner  or  later  perceived.  His  cul- 
ture was  such  as  many  a  man  of  humble  birth  and  lowly 
home  may  share,  and  it  brought  him  into  sympathy  with 
the  people  over  whom  he  was  to  be  placed,  and  clothed 
him  with  true  humility  when  he  stood  on  the  pinnacle  of 
power  and  fame.  It  was  a  culture  which  produced  sim- 
plicity, that  child-like  charm  which  won  all  appreciative 
hearts  to  the  Martyr-President.  "  Simplicity  adapts  it- 
self artlessly  to  others,  because  it  is  full  of  charity,  and 
therefore  desires  to  make  others  happy.  Its  words  are 
the  overflow  of  genial  thought  and  kindly  affection ;  and 
all  hearts  that  hold  aught  in  common  with  it  open  and 


32  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

expand  before  its  influences,  as  plants  start  at  the  touch 
of  spring.  .  .  .  There  is  no  affectation,  no  straining  for 
effect,  in  simplicity.  All  is  natural  and  genuine  with  it. 
Its  wit  is  never  forced,  its  wisdom  is  never  stilted;  nor 
is  either  ever  dragged  in  for  mere  display."* 

This  rare  simplicity  was  a  special  result  of  the  culture 
which  President  Lincoln  received;  and,  while  the  hand  of 
God  is  plainly  to  be  observed  in  all  his  history,  nowhere 
is  it  more  prominently  seen  than  in  the  circumstances 
and  influences  which  helped  to  make  Lincoln  what  he 
was, —  a  man  whose  culture  was  not  scientific  or  literary 
mainly,  but  just  such  as  would  make  a  man  of  the  people 
fit  to  govern  the  people  in  righteousness  and  love. 

•  "  Element*  of  Character,"  by  Mrs.  Mary  G   War* 


CHAPTER  m. 

PREPARATION    FOR   HIS   WORK. 

"Walk 

Boldly  and  wisely  in  that  light  tbou  haat : 
There  la  •  hand  above  will  help  thee  on." 

BAILKT'S 

"  M  and  therefore,  having  your  loins  girt  about  with  truth,  and  having  on  tin 
breastplate  of  righteousness,  and  your  feet  shod  with  the  preparation  of  the 
fospel  of  peace ;  above  all,  taking  the  shield  of  faith,  wherewith  ye  shall  be  able 
o  quench  all  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked.  And  take  the  helmet  of  salvation,  and 
he  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God." — ST.  I'AUL  (Kph.  vl.  14-17). 

VEIL  the  truth  as  we  may,  if  indisposed  to  see  it,  yet, 
nevertheless,  there  will  come  shining  through  the  mighty 
fact  that  God  had  a  work  for  Abraham  Lincoln  to  per- 
form, and  that  he  prepared  him  for  it,  not  by  giving 
him  wealthy  friends,  inherited  honors,  splendid  position, 
but  by  permitting  him  to  be  inured  to  toil  and  hardship 
and  bereavement,  and  thus  to 

"  Know  how  sublime  a  thing  it  it 
To  suffer  and  be  strong." 

Pay  by  day,  amid  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  his 
early  days  and  opening  manhood,  was  he  putting  on  the 
armor  which  should  be  needed  in  the  hours  of  stern  con- 
flict that  were  approaching.  Well  has  one  *  said,  "  Lap 
of  luxury  and  home  of  ease  send  not  forth  the  arms  that 
move  the  world.  He  who  is  driven  aloft  by  the  force  of 
2ircum?tances  becomes  the  noblest  soul  and  the  might! 


34  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

est  power.  Call  we  a  humble  home,  a  scanty  board,  and 
threadbare  coat,  but  a  blight  or  curse  ?  Ah  1 

'  God,  in  cursing, 
Gives  us  better  gifts  than  men  in  blessing; ' 

and  those  humble  ones  who  have  struggled  upward  with 
nothing  but  a  stern  will  and  a  consciousness  of  right  to 
uphold  them  have  proved  the  world's  richest  friends." 

The  Lord  Jesus  teaches,  in  his  pertinent  question  con- 
cerning the  falling  sparrow  and  the  numbered  hairs,  that 
God  exercises  a  constant  watchfulness  over  all  men,  and 
continually  guides  them  in  the  affairs  of  life.  The  his- 
tory of  our  late  President's  career,  and  of  the  times  in 
which  he  lived,  everywhere  shows  the  guiding  hand  of 
a  divine  providence. 

"  Many  are  willing  to  acknowledge  a  general  provi- 
dence, who  do  not  believe  in  a  universal  or  particular 
one.  But  there  cannot  be  a  general  providence  without  a 
particular  one.  That  would  be  utterly  impossible;  for  all 
generals  are  made  up  of  particulars.  Could  a  man  culti- 
vate a  farm  in  general,  without  ploughing  any  particular 
field,  or  casting  into  the  earth  any  particular  seeds?  Could 
a  watchmaker  make  watches  in  general,  without  making 
any  particular  wheels  and  springs,  and  giving  to  every 
wheel  its  special  form  and  size  and  place,  finishing  the 
minutest  parts  in  the  nicest  manner?  Could  a  merchant 
sell  things  in  general,  and  nothing  in  particular,  having 
no  particular  store,  or  particular  goods,  or  special  price  ? 
Or  if  we  look  at  the  material  creation,  where  we  can  see 
the  divine  method  of  working,  does  the  Lord  make  a  tree 
in  general,  without  any  particular  branches,  twigs,  leaves, 
bark,  fibre,  and  cells  ?  No  :  on  the  contrary,  the  whole 
tree  is  built  up  by  the  action  of  the  pores  and  cells  in  their 
least  parts.  This  is  the  universal  method  of  the  divine 


MtEPARATlON  FOR  HIS    WORK.  35 

operations.  ...  It  is  impossible  that  there  can  bo  a 
general  providence  without  a  special  one.  If  there  is  a 
general  providence,  it  is  the  result  of  a  universal  or  par- 
ticular one."* 

The  great  work  of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  to  guide  the 
American  Ship  of  State  during  the  storm  of  rebellion, 
and,  as  an  indissoluble  duty,  to  emancipate  the  oppressed 
millions  in  our  land,  whose  unrighteous  bondage  made 
our  glorious  banner  too  long  a  "flaunting  lie,"  and  our 
"  Independent  days "  ostentatious  cheats.  We  have 
seen  how  his  childhood  and  early  manhood  were  the 
precursors  of  a  useful  maturity ;  and  still  may  we  trace 
the  guiding  hand  of  God  in  his  further  steps,  preparing 
him  for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States,  and  to  be 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Union  Army. 

Before  the  death  of  his  mother,  the  future  director  of 
the  greatest  army  the  world  ever  saw  was  taught  the 
use  of  fire-arms  ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  mother 
of  Lincoln  —  brave  pioneer  woman  that  she  was!  —  her- 
self loaded  the  rifle  with  which  he  then  shot  his  first 
game, —  a  large  wild  turkey.  He  became  very  expert 
in  the  use  of  the  rifle ;  and,  as  has  been  already  inti- 
mated, was  able  thus  to  add  to  the  family  larder,  and 
also  to  procure  furs,  which  were  then  in  great  demand. 

One  of  his  biographers  says,  "  There  is  no  doubt  that 
the  culture  he  received  by  the  use  of  the  rifle  hud  its 
influence  in  developing  his  physical  energies,  as  he  was 
ever  distinguished  for  his  strength  and  powers  of  en- 
durance ;  and  that  it  indirectly  served  to  inspire  his 
heart  with  courage,  promptness,  and  decision,  for  which 
his  whole  life  has  been  eminent." 

The  same  biographer  relates  a  circumstance  which 
happened  during  the  time  when  Abraham  attended  Mr. 

•  Her.  Uhauucy  Gilee. 


S6  AJiRAIIAM   LINCOLN. 

Crawford's  school,  that  illustrates  the  growing  capacity 
of  the  lad,  and  foreshadows  his  future  labors  as  a  public 
speaker.  The  scholars  were  talking,  one  Monday  morn- 
ing before  the  hour  for  school  to  commence,  about  the 
sermon  to  which  they  had  listened  the  day  before.  Abra- 
ham declared  himself  able  to  repeat  a  large  part  of  the 
sermon ;  and,  when  the  boys  doubted  it,  he  proved  his 
retentive  memory,  close  attention,  and  speech-making 
powers,  by  mounting  a  stump  and  rehearsing  the  ser- 
mon. The  young  orator  was  overheard  by  his  teacher, 
and  won  his  admiration  and  applause  as  well  as  that  of 
his  fellow-pupils.  Little  did  any  of  them  think  how  he 
would  address  large  audiences  in  the  future  just  unfold- 
ing before  him,  swaying  their  minds  and  influencing 
their  hearts  by  a  forcible  and  earnest  presentation  of 
high  truths  intimately  connected  with  the  safety  and 
happiness  of  the  nation. 

He,  of  whom  one  of  his  early  associates  says,  "  We 
seldom  went  hunting  together  ;  Abe  was  not  a  noted 
hunter,  as  the  time  spent  by  other  boys  in  such  amuse- 
ments was  improved  by  him  in  the  perusal  of  some 
good  book,"  did  not  fail  to  grow  in  knowledge  ever 
after  he  left  his  father's  roof,  and  sought  to  carve  his 
own  way  to  fame  and  fortune,  wholly  ignorant  of  the 
lofty  niche  assigned  him  in  the  temple  of  renown.. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  for  %o  he  should  be  called  since  he  was 
twenty-one  and  had  an  indisputable  right  to  wear  the 
toga  virilis,  sought  employment  among  those  who  need- 
ed a  strong  arm,  and  exemplified  in  his  own  efforts  the 
sensible  words  which  he  uttered  thirty  years  later  in 
reference  to  hired  labor :  — 

"  My  understanding  of  the  hired  laborer  is  this  :  A 
young  man  finds  himself  of  an  age  to  be  dismissed  from 
parental  control ;  he  has  for  his  capital  nothing  save 


PREPARATION  FOR   HIS    WORK.  37 

two  strong  hands  that  God  has  given  him,  a  heart  will- 
ing to  labor,  and  a  freedom  to  choose  the  mode  of  his 
work,  and  the  manner  of  his  employer ;  he  has  no  soil 
nor  shop,  and  he  avails  himself  of  the  opportunity  of 
hiring  himself  to  some  man  who  has  capital  to  pay  him 
a  fair  day's  wages  for  a  fair  day's  work.  He  is  bene- 
fited by  availing  himself  of  that  privilege  ;  he  works  in- 
dustriously, he  behaves  soberly,  and  the  result  of  a 
year  or  two's  labor  is  a  surplus  of  capital.  Now  he 
buys  land  on  his  own  hook  ;  he  settles,  marries,  begets 
sons  and  daughters  ;  and,  in  course  of  time,  he,  too,  has 
enough  capital  to  hire  some  new  beginner." 

This  homely  and  characteristic  speech  was  truthful, 
like  the  man  who  uttered  it  when  on  the  eve  of  nomina- 
tion to  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  nation ;  and 
at  that  same  time  he  expressed  his  opinion  in  regard  to 
free  labor,  in  the  same  straightforward,  though  rather  in- 
elegant manner.  His  words  may  as  well  be  quoted  here. 
They  were  these  ^  "Our  Government  was  not  estab- 
lished that  one  man  might  do  with  himself  as  he  pleases, 
and  with  another  man  too.  ...  I  say,  that,  whereas 
God  Almighty  has  given  every  man  one  mouth  to  be  fed, 
and  one  pair  of  hands  adapted  to  furnish  food  for  that 
mouth,  if  any  thing  can  be  proved  to  be  the  will  of 
Heaven,  it  is  proved  by  this  fact,  that  that  mouth  is  to 
be  fed  by  those  hands,  without  being  interfered  with  by 
any  other  man,  who  has  also  his  mouth  to  feed  and  his 
hands  to  labor  with.  I  hold,  if  the  Almighty  had  ever 
made  a  set  of  men  that  should  do  all  the  eating  and  none 
of  the  work,  he  would  have  made  them  with  mouths 
only,  and  no  hands ;  and  if  he  had  ever  made  another 
class  that  he  had  intended  should  do  all  the  work,  and 
none  of  the  eating,  he  would  have  made  them  without 
and  with  all  hands," 

4 


38  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

As  a  hired  laborer,  young  Lincoln  spent  the 
and  fall  with  a  Mr.  Armstrong,  who  observed  his  studious 
habits,  and  proposed  to  his  wile  to  keep  the  youthful 
student  through  the  winter.  He  insisted  on  laboring  for 
Mr.  Armstrong  enough  to  pay  his  board,  and  spent  the 
rest  of  his  time  in  study. 

Early  the  next  spring,  as  before  stated,  he  assisted  in 
building  a  boat  at  Sangamon,  and  then  made  a  trip  to 
New  Orleans,  which  was  so  successful,  that  his  employer, 
gratified  with  the  industry  and  tact  young  Lincoln  ex- 
hibited,  engaged  him  to  take  charge  of  his  mill  and  store 
in  the  village  of  New  Salem.  Thus  Mr.  Lincoln,  having 
already  been  prepared  to  sympathize  with  the  mechanic, 
came  to  have  a  near  relation  also  to  the  merchant,  that, 
he  could  understand  in  after-life  the  trials  and  preplexi- 
ti'es  of  that  class  among  the  men  he  was  called  to  govern. 

The  young  man  who  spent  his  leisure  moments,  amid 
the  distractions  of  mercantile  life,  in  studying  grammar 
and  arithmetic,  may  well  be  supposed  to  feel  an  interest 
in  public  events  transpiring  in  his  native  land. 

Early  in  the  year  1832  the  Black-Hawk  War  commenced, 
and  the  Governor  of  Illinois  called  for  volunteer  troops. 
Young  Lincoln,  with  patriotic  ardor,  was  the  first  to 
place  his  name  on  the  roll  at  the  recruiting-office  in  New 
Salem.  A  company  was  soon  raised  there  ;  and  such 
was  the  confidence  of  his  fellow-townsmen  and  comrades- 
in-arms,  that  they  unanimously  chose  him  to  be  their 
captain, — an  office  which  he  reluctantly  accepted,  having 
a  modest  doubt  of  his  own  ability  to  serve  in  that  capacit}T. 

"  The  New-Salem  company  went  into  camp  at  Beards- 
town,  from  whence,  in  a  few  days,  they  marched  to  the 
expected  scene  of  conflict.  When  the  thirty  days  of  their 
enlistment  had  expired,  however,  they  had  not  seen  the 
enemy.  They  were  disbanded  at  Ottawa,  and  most  of 


f REPARATION  FOR   HIS    WORK.  89 

the  volunteers  returned ;  but,  a  new  levy  being  called 
for,  Abraham  re-enlisted  as  a  private.  Another  thirty 
days  expired,  and  the  war  was  not  over.  His  regiment 
was  disbanded,  and  again,  the  third  time,  he  volunteered. 
He  was  determined  to  serve  his  country  as  long  as  the 
war  lasted.  Before  the  third  term  of  his  enlistment  had 
expired,  the  battle  of  Bad  Axe  was  fought,  which  put  an 
end  to  the  war. 

"He  returned  home.  'Having  lost  his  horse,  neav 
where  the  town  of  Janesville,  Wisconsin,  now  stands,  he 
went  down  Rock  River  to  Dixon  in  a  canoe  ;  thence  he 
crossed  the  country  on  foot  to  Peoria,  where  he  again 
took  canoe  to  a  point  on  the  Illinois  River,  within  forty 
miles  of  home.  The  latter  distance  he  accomplished  on 
foot.' 

"  One  who  served  under  him  in  the  New-Salem  company 
writes,  that  he  was  a  universal  favorite  in  the  army;  that 
he  was  an  efficient,  faithful  officer,  watchful  of  his  men, 
and  prompt  in  the  discharge  of  duty ;  and  that  his 
courage  and  patriotism  shrank  from  no  dangers  or  hard- 
ships." 

Thus  by  personal  participation  in  military  duties  the 
future  Commander-in-Chief  was  preparing  for  his  coming 
responsibilities ;  and  this  preparation  was  such  as  to  make 
him  truly  sympathize  with  privates  as  well  as  officers, 
and  to  be  just  to  both. 

He  returned  to  New  Salem  and  to  business  when  no 
longer  needed  as  a  soldier.  The  author  of  the  "  Lincoln 
Memorial "  says,  in  speaking  of  Mr.  Lincoln  as  a  clerk 
and  manager,  "  He  soon  made  his  mark  :  an  attempt  of  a 
gang  of  the  bullies  of  the  place  to  give  him  a  beating 
resulted  in  the  defeat  of  their  champion  by  the  tall 
einewy  stranger,  who  at  once  became  a  favorite  with 


40  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

those  who  gauged  men  by  their  physical  endurance  and 
courage;  while  his  affable  manners,  his  unfailing  cheerful- 
ness, his  ready  wit,  and  his  stones,  made  him  a  favorite 
with  all.  A  store  was  soon  his  own  ;  but  he  was  too  honest 
and  too  kind-hearted  to  drive  sharp  bargains,  and  soon 
found  himself  in  difficulties  which  it  required  years  of 
subsequent  struggle  to  clear  away,  but  which  he  allowed 
to  stand  no  longer  than  till  he  had  ability  to  discharge 
them.  Honest  Abraham  Lincoln  knew  no  bankrupt's 
discharge,  but  a  receipt  in  full  on  payment  in  full." 

Another  noticeable  fact  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  history  is  thus 
mentioned  by  the  same  writer :  "  The  office  of  post- 
master of  New  Salem,  a  petty  office  indeed,  was  his  first 
public  position,  and  one  which  gave  him  intense  pleasure 
from  the  opportunity  of  reading  it  afforded  him ;  and  it  is 
not  a  little  remarkable  that  he  began  life,  we  may  say,  by 
serving  the  General  Government  in  a  civil,  and  soon 
after  in  a  military  capacity." 

The  writer  of  the  "  Lincoln  Memorial  "  thinks  that  the 
fact  of  Lincoln's  captaincy  was  significant,  and  almost 
symbolical.  "  This  early  choice,"  he  says,  "  of  one  who 
was  at  most  a  clerk  and  hand  in  a  country  store,  shows 
how  clearly  his  fellow-citizens  had  recognized  him  as  one 
born  to  be  a  ruler  of  men.  At  the  next  election  for 
members  of  the  legislature,  he  was  taken  up  as  the 
candidate  of  his  district,  and  so  completely  united  the 
votes  of  all  parties  in  his  precinct,  that  he  received  every 
vote  but  seven  out  of  two  hundred  and  eighty-four ;  and 
though  he  was  defeated  in  the  district  at  large,  it  was  the 
only  occasion  in  which  he  failed  in  such  an  election." 

While  acting  as  postmaster,  Mr.  Lincoln  continued  his 
studies,  and  improved  his  increased  opportunities  for 
extensive  reading.  He  is  said  to  have  written  out  a 
synopsis  of  every  book  he  read,  and  thus  to  have  fixed 
the  contents  in  his  memory. 


PREPARATION  FOR   HIS    WORK.  II 

About  this  time,  John  Calhoun,  afterwards  President 
of  the  Lecomptou  Constitutional  Convention,  and  promi- 
nent in  the  troubles  in  Kansas,  came  to  New  Salem.  lie 
soon  formed  the  acquaintance  of  the  best  conversation- 
ist in  the  place,  and  advised  him  to  learn  surveying,  — 
the  work  in  which  he  himself  was  engaged.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln did  so,  and  soon  obtained  employment  as  a  sur- 
veyor, thus  unconsciously  imitating  him  whose  place  as 
the  head  of  a  great  nation  he  was  afterwards  to  occupy. 
Little  thought  Washington  or  Lincoln,  as  they  drove 
their  stakes  or  stretched  their  chains  over  their  neigh- 
bors' lands  "  for  a  consideration,"  that  they  should  one 
day,  so  to  speak,  drive  the  stakes  of  their  tent  in  the 
Capitol  of  the  nation,  and  stretch  the  chain  of  their  in- 
fluence over  the  whole  broad  country.  But  God  "  put- 
teth  down  one,  and  setteth  up  another;"  and  he  upon 
whose  brow  God  has  ordained  a  crown  should  rest  will 
surely  wear  it  in  the  fulness  of  time,  though  he  may 
have  been  born  in  a  hovel  or  a  manger. 

Difficulties  beset  the  path  of  the  future  President. 
He  had  not  the  never-empty  purse  of  Fortuuatus,  nor 
the  power  of  the  Phrygian  king  to  turn  every  thing  he 
touched  to  gold  ;  and  therefore  he  often  found  himself 
embarrassed  in  financial  matters  ;  and  at  one  time,  it  is 
said,  even  his  instruments  used  in  surveying  were  actu- 
ally seized  for  debt. 

"He  still  took  an  active  part  in  politics;  and  in  Au- 
gust, 1834,  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature  by  a  large 
majority.  In  this  new  field  he  learned  much.  He  was 
a  persistent  student,  and  had  already,  by  close  applica- 
tion, made  up  for  much  of  the  deficiency  of  his  early 
education.  He  analyzed  all  he  read,  and  gave  up  noth- 
ing till  he  had  thoroughly  mastered  it.  This  gave  him 
a  correctness  and  precision  of  thought  which  never 


42  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

failed  him.  Naturally  modest,  he  discharged  his  legifela 
live  duties  without  any  of  the  parade  or  elation  which 
makes  some  inexperienced  members  mere  tools  of  the 
wily  politician,  or  personally  ridiculous.  His  clearness 
and  eloquence  struck  the  Hon.  John  T.  Stuart,  one  of 
his  fellow-members,  and  he  urged  the  young  member  to 
study  law.  Acting  on  this  advice,  he  set  himself  to 
Blackstone  with  ardor,  his  favorite  retreat  being  a 
wooded  knoll  in  New  Salem,  where,  stretched  under  an 
oak,  he  would  pore  over  the  doctrines  of  common  law, 
utterly  unconscious  of  all  passing  around  him,  and  im- 
pressing some,  at  least,  of  his  neighbors  with  doubts  of 
his  entire  sanity." 

The  author  of  the  "  Pioneer  Boy  "  thus  refers  to  this 
period  of  study :  "  He  canvassed  the  whole  subject  in 
the  beginning,  and  he  resolved  to  spend  no  evenings  in 
social  entertainments.  He  saw  that  he  must  do  it  from 
sheer  necessity,  as  he  would  be  obliged  to  use  up  the 
night-hours  much  more  economically  than  the  laws  of 
health  would  permit.  And  now  he  was  inflexible.  His 
purpose  was  fixed,  and  no  allurements  or  promises  of 
pleasure  could  make  him  swerve  a  hair's-breadth  there- 
from. 

"  Springfield  was  twenty-two  miles  from  New  Salem  ; 
and  yet  Lincoln  walked  there  and  back  on  the  day  pro- 
posed. He  made  a  long  day  of  it,  and  a  wearisome  one 
too.  On  the  following  evening,  Greene  called  upon  him 
to  learn  how  he  made  it. 

" '  What ! '  he  exclaimed,  '  did  you  bring  all  those 
books  home  in  your  arms  ? '  They  were  '  Blackstone's 
Commentaries,'  in  four  volumes. 

'  Yes,  and  read  one  of  the  volumes  more  than  half 
of  the  way,'  Lincoln  replied.  '  Come,  now,  just  examine 
me  on  that  first  volume.'  He  had  a  faculty  of  perusing 


PREPARATION  FOR  HIS    WORK.  43 

a  volume  when  he  was  walking,  and  he  often  did  it.    He 
gained  time  thereby. 

"'I  don't  see  what  yom  are  made  of,  to  endure  so,' 
continued  Greene.  '  It  would  use  me  all  up  to  carry 
euch  a  load  a  quarter  part  of  that  distance.' 

" '  I  am  used  to  it,  you  know ;  and  that  makes  the  dif 
ferencc.  But,  come,  just  see  what  I  know  about  the  first 
part  of  that  volume.'  Arid  he  passed  the  first  volume  to 
him. 

" '  If  you  pass  muster,  you'll  want  I  should  admit  you 
to  the  bar,  I  suppose,'  responded  Greene  humorously. 
'  That  I  shall  be  glad  to  do.' 

"  So  he  proceeded  to  examine  Lincoln  on  the  first 
volume  ;  and  he  found,  to  his  surprise,  that  he  was  well 
posted  on  every  part  of  it  that  he  had  read.  By  his 
close  attention,  and  the  ability  to  concentrate  his 
thoughts,  he  readily  made  what  he  read  his  own. 

"  Thus  Lincoln  began  and  continued  the  study  of  law, 
alternating  his  time  between  surveying  and  study  ;  go- 
ing to  Springfield  for  books  as  often  as  it  was  necessary, 
and  often  pursuing  his  reading  of  law  far  into  the  night. 
People  were  universally  interested  in  his  welfare,  and 
all  predicted  that  he  would  make  his  mark  by  and  by. 

"  With  such  devotion  did  he  employ  his  time  in  study 
and  manual  labor,  denying  himself  of  much  that  young 
men  generally  consider  essential,  that  he  might  have 
said  with  Cicero,  '  What  others  give  to  public  shows 
and  entertainments,  to  .festivity,  to  amusements,  nay, 
even  to  mental  and  bodily  rest,  I  give  to  study  and  philos- 
ophy.' Even  when  he  was  engaged  in  the  fields  survey- 
ing, his  thoughts  were  upon  his  books,  so  that  much 
which  he  learned  at  night  was  fastened  in  his  mind  by 
day.  He  might  have  said  again  with  Cicero,  '  Even  my 
leisure  hours  have  their  occupation,' " 


44  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

In  1836  he  obtained  a  law-license,  and  in  April,  1837, 
be  removed  to  Springfield,  and  became  the  law-partner 
.  of  Mr.  Stuart ;  and,  when  the  latter  went  to  Congress, 
he  became  a  partner  of  Judge  Logan.     One  touching 
incident  of  his  law-practice,  which  paints  in  vivid  colors 
the  character  of  Lincoln  as  a  man  and  his  ability  as  a 
lawyer,  is  thus  narrated  in  a  Cleveland  paper  :  "  Some 
few  years  since,  the  eldest    son   of  Mr.  Lincoln's  old 
friend,  Armstrong, —  the  chief  supporter  of  his  widowed 
mother,  the  good  old  man  having  some  time  previous- 
ly passed  from  earth,  —  was  arrested  on  the  charge  of 
murder.     A  young  man  had  been  killed  during  a  riot- 
ous melee  in  the  night-tirne,  at  a  camp-meeting,  and  ono 
of  his  associates  stated  that  the  death-wound  was  inflicted 
by  young  Armstrong.     A  preliminary  examination  was 
gone  into,  at  which  the  accuser  testified  so  positively, 
that  there  seemed  no  doubt  of  the  guilt  of  the  prisoner, 
and  therefore  he  was  held  for  trial.     As  is  too  often  the 
case,  the  bloody  act  caused  an  undue  degree  of  excite- 
ment in  the  public  mind.     Every  improper  incident  hj 
the  life  of  the  prisoner,  each  act  which  bore  the  leaot 
semblance  of  rowdyism,  each    school-boy  quarrel,  was 
suddenly  remembered  and  magnified,  until  they  pictured 
him  as  a  fiend  of  the  most  horrible  hue.     As  these  ru- 
mors spread  abroad,  they  were  received  as  gospel  truth, 
and  a  feverish  desire  for  vengeance  seized  upon  the  in- 
fatuated populace,  whilst  only  prison-bars  prevented  a 
horrible  death  at  the  hands  of  a  mob.     The  events  were 
heralded  in  the  county  papers,  painted  in  the  highest 
colors,  accompanied  by  rejoicing  over  the  certainty  of 
punishment  being  meted  out  to  the  guilty  party.     The 
prisoner,  overwhelmed  by  the  circumstances  under  which 
he  found  himself  placed,  fell  into  a  melancholy  condition 
bordering  on  despair;  and  the  widowed  mother, 


PREPARATION  FOR  HIS   WORK.  4f 

through  her  tears,  saw  no  cause  for  hope  from  earthly 
aid. 

At  this  juncture  the  widow  received  a  letter  from 
Mr.  Lincoln,  volunteering  his  services  in  an  effort  tc 
save  the  youth  from  the  impending  stroke.  Gladly  was 
his  aid  accepted,  although  it  seemed  impossible  for  even 
his  sagacity  to  prevail  in  such  a  desperate  case;  but 
the  heart  of  the  attorney  was  in  his  work,  and  he  set 
about  it  with  a  will  that  knew  no  such  word  as  fail. 
Feeling  that  the  poisoned  condition  of  the  public  mind 
was  such  as  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  impanelling  an 
impartial  jury  in  the  court  having  jurisdiction,  he  pro- 
cured a  change  of  venue  and  a  postponement  of  the 
trial.  He  then  went  studiously  to  work,  unravelling  the 
history  of  the  case,  and  satisfied  himself  that  his  client 
was  the  victim  of  malice,  and  that  the  statements  of  the 
accuser  were  a  tissue  of  falsehoods. 

When  the  trial  was  called  on,  the  prisoner,  pale  and 
emaciated,  with  hopelessness  written  on  every  feature, 
and  accompanied  by  his  half-hoping,  half-despairing 
mother,  —  whose  only  hope  was  in  a  mother's  belief  of 
her  son's  innocence,  in  the  justice  of  the  God  she  wor- 
shipped, and  in  the  noble  counsel,  who,  without  hope  of 
fee  or  reward  upon  earth,  had  undertaken  the  cause,  — 
took  his  seat  in  the  prisoner's  box,  and  with  a  stony 
firmness  listened  to  the  reading  of  the  indictment.  Lin- 
coln sat  quietly  by,  whilst  the  large  auditory  looked  on 
him  as  though  wondering  what  he  could  say  in  defence 
of  one  whose  guilt  they  regarded  as  certain. 

The  examination  of  the  witnesses  for  the  State  was 
begun,  and  a  well-arranged  mass  of  evidence,  circum- 
stantial and  positive,  was  introduced,  which  seemed  to 
impale  the  prisoner  beyond  the  possibility  of  extrication. 
The  counsel  for  the  defence  propounded  but  few  ques 


46  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN. 

tiona,  and  those  of  a  character  which  excitod  IK  uneasi 
ness  on  the  part  of  the  prosecutor;  merely,  in  most 
cases,  requiring  the  main  witnesses  to  be  definite  as  to 
the  time  and  place.  When  the  evidence  of  the  prose- 
cution  was  ended,  Lincoln  introduced  a  few  witnesses  to 
remove  some  erroneous  impressions  in  regard  to  the 
previous  character  of  his  client,  who,  though  somewhat 
rowdyish,  had  never  been  known  to  commit  a  vicious 
act,  and  to  show  that  a  greater  degree  of  ill-feeling  ex- 
isted between  the  accuser  and  the  accused  than  the 
accused  and  the  deceased. 

The  prosecutor  felt  that  the  case  was  a  clear  one,  and 
his  opening  speech  was  brief  and  formal.  Lincoln  arose, 
while  a  deathly  silence  pervaded  the  vast  audience,  and 
in  a  clear  and  moderate  tone  began  his  argument.  Slowly 
and  carefully  he  reviewed  the  testimony ;  pointing  out 
the  hitherto  unobserved  discrepancies  in  the  statements 
of  the  principal  witness.  That  which  had  seemed  plain 
and  plausible  he  made  to  appear  crooked  as  a  serpent's 
path.  The  witness  had  stated  that  the  affair  took  place 
at  a  certain  hour  in  the  evening,  and  that,  by  the  aid  of 
a  brightly  shining  moon,  he  saw  the  prisoner  inflict  the 
death-blow  with  a  slung-shot.  Mr.  Lincoln  showed  that 
at  the  hour  referred  to  the  moon  had  not  yet  appeared 
above  the  horizon,  and  consequently  the  whole  tale  was 
a  fabrication. 

An  almost  instantaneous  change  seemed  to  have  been 
wrought  in  the  minds  of  his  auditors,  and  the  verdict  of 
"  Not  Guilty"  was  at  the  end  of  every  tongue.  But  the 
advocate  was  not  content  with  this  intellectual  achieve- 
ment. His  whole  being  had  for  months  been  bound  up 
in  this  work  of  gratitude  and  mercy ;  and  as  the  lava  of 
the  over-charged  crater  bursts  from  its  imprisonment,  so 
great  thoughts  and  burning  words  leaped  forth  from 


PREPARATION  FOR   BIS    WORK  4? 

the  soul  of  the  eloquent  Lincoln.  He  drew  a  picture  of 
the  perjurer,  so  horrid  and  ghastly  that  the  accuser  could 
sit  under  it  no  longer,  but  reeled  and  staggered  from  the 
court-room,  whilst  the  audience  fancied  they  could  see  the 
brand  upon  his  brow.  Then,  in  words  of  thrilling  pathos, 
Lincoln  appealed  to  the  jurors,  as  fathers  of  some  who 
might  become  fatherless,  and  husbands  of  wives  who 
might  be  widowed,  to  yield  to  no  previous  impressions,  no 
ill-founded  prejudice,  but  to  do  his  client  justice;  and  as 
he  alluded  to  the  debt  of  gratitude  which  he  owed  the 
boy's  sire,  tears  were  seen  to  fall  from  many  eyes  unused 
to  weep. 

It  was  near  night  when  he  concluded  by  saying,  that, 
if  justice  was  done,  —  as  he  believed  it  would  be,  —  be- 
fore the  sun  should  set,  it  would  shine  upon  his  client  a 
free  man.  The  jury  retired,  and  the  court  adjourned  for 
the  day.  Half  an  hour  had  not  elapsed,  when,  as  the 
officers  of  the  court  and  the  volunteer  attorney  sat  at 
the  tea-table  of  their  hotel,  a  messenger  announced  that 
the  jury  had  returned  to  their  seats.  All  repaired  im- 
mediately to  the  court-house;  and  whilst  the  prisoner 
was  coming  from  the  jail,  the  court-room  was  filled  to 
overflowing  with  citizens  from  the  town.  When  the 
prisoner  and  his  mother  entered,  silence  reigned  as  com- 
pletely as  though  the  house  were  empty.  The  foreman 
of  the  jury,  in  answer  to  the  usual  inquiry  from  the 
court,  delivered  the  verdict  of  "Not  Guilty!"  The 
widow  dropped  into  the  arms  of  her  son,  who  lifted  her 
up,  and  told  her  to  look  upon  him  as  before,  free  and  in- 
nocent. Then  with  the  words,  "Where  is  Mr.  Lincoln?" 
he  rushed  across  the  room  and  grasped  the  hand  of  his 
deliverer,  whilst  his  heart  was  too  full  for  utterance. 
Uncoln  turned  his  eyes  towards  the  west,  where  the  sun 
utill  lingered  in  view,  and  then,  turning  to  the  youth, 


ABE  All  AM   LINCOLN. 


said,  "  It  is  not  yet  sundown,  and  you  are  fivje  1  "  I  con- 
fess that  my  cheeks  were  not  wholly  unwet  by  tears,  and 
1  turned  from  the  affecting  scene.  As  I  cast  a  glance  be- 
hind, I  saw  Abraham  Lincoln  obeying  the  divine  injunc- 
tion by  comforting  the  widowed  and  fatherless. 

Three  times  was  Mr.  Lincoln,  after  this,  elected  to  the 
Legislature,  and  there  commenced  his  political  acquaint- 
ance with  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  He  then  remained  several 
years  in  private  life,  practising  law  with  good  success. 
In  1842,  he  married  Miss  Mary  Todd,  daughter  of  lion. 
Robert  Todd  of  Lexington,  Kentucky.  Their  children 
have  been  four  in  number:  "Robert,  recently  a  captain 
on  Gen.  Grant's  staff,  born  in  1843  ;  a  second  son,  born  in 
1846,  and  William,  born  in  1850,  both  of  whom  are  dead; 
and  Thaddeus,  born  in  1853,  who  stands  beside  his  father 
in  the  last  photograph  taken  of  the  President. 

"  It  gives  some  idea  of  the  prominence  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln in  Illinois,  that,  though  elected  to  the  Legislature 
only  in  1834,  he  was  a  Whig  candidate  for  presidential 
elector  at  every  election  from  1836  to  1852.  An  ear!/ 
and  warm  admirer  of  Henry  Clay,  he  came  forward,  in 
1844,  and  stumped  the  entire  State  of  Illinois  in  his 
favor,  and  then  crossed  into  Indiana,  attracting  attention 
by  the  homely  force,  humor,  energy,  and  eloquence  of  his 
addresses.  Thus  thrown  again  into  active  politics,  he 
was  elected  to  Congress  in  1846,  from  the  Central  Dis- 
trict of  Illinois,  by  a  majority  of  fifteen  hundred,  being 
the  only  Whig  member  from  the  State.  Called  now  into 
the  great  council  of  the  nation,  Mr.  Lincoln  took  his  seat 
among  great  men.  In  the  Senate,  Clay,  Calhounr  Web- 
ster, Benton,  still  shaped  the  destinies  and  restrained  the 
passions  of  men;  and  men  of  great  ability  stood  forth  in 
the  lower  House.  Mr,  Lincoln  was  opposed  to  the  annex- 
ation of  Texas  and  to  the  Mexican  War.  He  voted  many 


MR.   LINCOLN  AND   "TAD." 


PREPARATION  FOR  HIS   WORK.  49 

times  —  'about  forty/  he  once  said — for  the  Wilmot 
Proviso  ;  thus  as  early  as  1847  showing  himself  the  same 
friend  of  freedom  in  the  Territories  which  he  was  after 
wards  when  '  bleeding  Kansas'  received  his  sympathy. 
'On  other  great  questions  which  came  before  Congress, 
Mr.  Lincoln,  being  a  Whig,  took  the  ground  which  was 
held  by  the  great  body  of  his  party.  He  believed  in  the 
right  of  Congress  to  make  appropriations  for  the  im- 
provement of  rivers  and  harbors.  He  was  in  favor  of 
giving  the  public  lands,  not  to  speculators,  but  to  actual 
occupants  and  cultivators,  at  as  low  rates  as  possible  ; 
and  he  was  in  favor  of  a  protective  tariff,  and  of  abolish- 
ing the  franking  privilege.' "  * 

In  1858,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  nominated  by  the  Repub- 
licans as  candidate  for  the  United-States  Senate.  Mr. 
Douglas  was  his  rival  on  the  Democratic  ticket.  Both 
stumped  the  State,  and  finally  held  personal  debates 
with  each  other  without  personal  animosity  on  the  dif- 
ferent political  views  they  held.  Judge  Douglas  had  the 
grace,  at  Springfield,  to  say,  "  I  take  great  pleasure  in 
bearing  testimony  to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Lincoln  is  a  kind- 
hearted,  amiable,  good-natured  gentleman,  with  whom 
no  man  has  a  right  to  pick  a  quarrel,  even  if  he 
wanted  one.  He  is  a  worthy  gentleman.  I  have  known 
him  for  twenty-five  years ;  and  there  is  no  better  citizen, 
and  no  kinder-hearted  man.  He  is  a  fine  lawyer,  pos- 
sesses high  ability ;  and  there  is  no  objection  to  him,  ex- 
cept the  monstrous  revolutionary  doctrines  with  which 
he  is  identified." 

In  July,  1858,  Lincoln  threw  down  the  gauntlet,  which 
Douglas  lifted,  and  seven  debates  followed,  at  Ottawa, 
Preeport,  Jonesborough,  Charleston,  Galesbarg,  Quincy, 
and  Alton.  They  are  said  to  be  unsurpassed  in  campaign 

*  Raymond'*  "  Life  of  Lincoln." 


50  AB&A&AM  LINCOLN. 

annals  for  eloquence,  ability,  adroitness,  or  comprehen- 
siveness.  Often  these  rival  candidates  travelled  in  the 
same  car  or  carriage,  manifesting  personal  good  feeling, 
yet  each  contending  fearlessly  for  the  mastery  when 
they  entered  the  gladiatorial  area  for  debate, 

During  this  campaign,  Mr.  Lincoln  paid  a  tribute  to 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  which  should  be  read 
by  all  who  revere  his  memory  :  "  These  communities, 
(the  thirteen  colonies)  by  their  representatives  in  old  In- 
dendence  Hall,  said  to  the  world  of  men,  'We  hold  these 
truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all  men  are  born  equal ; 
that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  inalienable 
rights;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness.'  This  was  their  majestic  interpretation  of 
the  economy  of  the  universe.  This  was  their  lofty  and 
wise  and  noble  understanding  of  the  justice  of  the 
Creator  to  his  creatures.  Yes,  gentlemen,  to  all  his 
creatures,  to  the  whole  great  family  of  man.  In  their 
enlightened  belief,  nothing  stamped  with  the  divine 
image  and  likeness  was  sent  into  the  world  to  be  trodden 
on  and  degraded  and  imbruted  by  its  fellows.  They 
grasped  not  only  the  race  of  men  then  living,  but  they 
reached  forward  and  seized  upon  the  farthest  posterity. 
They  created  a  beacon  to  guide  their  children  and  their 
children's  children,  and  the  countless  myriads  who  should 
inhabit  the  earth  in  other  ages.  Wise  statesmen  as  they 
were,  they  kneAv  the  tendency  of  prosperity  to  breed 
tyrants ;  and  so  they  established  these  self-evident  truths, 
that  when,  in  the  distant  future,  some  man,  some  faction, 
some  interest,  should  set  up  the  doctrine,  that  none  but 
rich  men,  or  none  but  white  men,  or  none  but  Anglo- 
Saxon  white  men,  were  entitled  to  life,  liberty,  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness,  their  posterity  might  look  up 
again  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  take  cour- 


PREPARATION  FOR  sis  WORK.  51 

age  to  renew  the  battle  which  their  fathers  began ;  so 
that  truth  and  justice  and  mercy,  and  all  the  humane  and 
Christian  virtues,  might  not  be  extinguished  from  the 
land ;  so  that  no  man  would  hereafter  dare  to  limit  and 
circumscribe  the  great  principles  on  which  the  temple 
of  Liberty  was  being  built. 

"  Now,  my  countrymen,  if  you  have  been  taught  doc- 
trines conflicting  with  the  great  land-marks  of  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence  ;  if  you  have  listened  to  sugges- 
tions which  would  take  away  from  its  grandeur  and 
mutilate  the  fair  symmetry  of  its  proportions  ;  if  you  have 
been  inclined  to  believe  that  all  men  are  not  created 
equal  in  those  inalienable  rights  enumerated  by  our 
charter  of  liberty,  —  let  me  entreat  you  to  come  back; 
return  to  the  fountain  whose  waters  spring  close  by  the 
blood  of  the  Revolution.  Think  nothing  of  me,  tako  no 
thought  for  the  political  fate  of  any  man  whomsoever, 
but  come  back  to  the  truths  that  are  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence. 

"You  may  do  any  thing  with  me  that  you  choose,  if  you 
will  but  heed  these  sacred  principles;  you  may  not  only 
defeat  me  for  the  Senate,  but  you  may  take  me  and  put 
me  to  death.  While  pretending  no  indifference  to  earthly 
honors,  I  do  claim  to  be  actuated  in  this  contest  by  some- 
thing higher  than  an  anxiety  for  office.  I  charge  you  to 
drop  every  paltry  and  insignificant  thought  for  any  man's 
success.  It  is  nothing;  lam  nothing;  Judge  Douglas 
is  nothing.  Bid  do  not  destroy  that  immortal  emltlem  of 
humanity,  — the  Declaration  of  American  Independence.'11 

Though  it  is  not  designed  to  enlarge  this  volume  by  the 
publication  of  many  of  our  late  President's  speeches  or 
letters,  the  following  eloquent  outburst  of  patriotism  and 
devotion  to  principle  must  not  be  omitted.  It  is  the 
closing  part  of  a  speech  made  in  December,  1839. 


52  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

"Many  free  countries  have  lost  their  liberties,  and 
ours  maylose  hers  fbut  if  she  shall,  may  it  be  my  proud- 
esT  plume,  not  that  I  was  the  last  to  desert  her,  but 
that  I  never  deserted  her !  I  know  that  the  great  volcano  / 
at  Washington,  aroused  and  directed  by  the  evil  spirit 
that  reigns  there,  is  belching  forth  the  lava  of  political 
corruption  in  a  current  broad  and  deep,  which  is  sweep- 
ing with  frightful  velocity  over  the  whole  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land,  bidding  fair  to  leave  unscathed  no 
green  spot  or  living  thing  ;  while  on  its  bosom  are  riding, 
like  demons  on  the  waves  of  hell,  the  imps  of  the  evil 
spirit,  and  fiendishly  torturing  and  taunting  all  those  whr 
dare  resist  its  destroying  course  with  the  hopelessness  Gi 
their  efforts ;  and  knowing  this,  I  cannot  deny  that  all 
may  be  swept  away.  Broken  by  it  I  too  may  bej  bow 
to  it  I  never  will.  The  probability  that  we  may  fall  in 
the  struggle  ought  not  to  deter  us  from  the  support  of  a 
cause  which  we  deem  to  be  just.  It  shall  not  deter  me. 
If  ever  I  feel  the  soul  within  me  elevate  and  expand  to 
those  dimensions  not  wholly  unworthy  the  Almighty 
Architect,  it  is  when  I  contemplate  the  cause  of  my 
country  deserted  by  all  the  world  besides,  and  I,  stand- 
ing alone,  hurling  defiance  at  her  victorious  oppressors. 
And  here,  without  contemplating  consequences,  before 
high  heaven,  and  in  the  face  of  the  whole  world,  I  swear 
eternal  fidelity  to  the  just  cause,  as  I  deem  it,  of  the  land 
of  my  life,  my  liberty,  and  my  love.  And  who  that  thinks 
with  me  will  not  adopt  the  oath  that  I  take  ?  Lot  none 
falter  who  thinks  he  is  right,  and  we  may  succeed.  But 
if,  after  all,  we  shall  fall,  be  it  so.  We  shall  have  the  proud 
consolation  of  saying  to  our  conscience,  and  to  the  de- 
parted shade  of  our  country's  freedom,  that  the  course 
approved  by  our  judgments  and  adored  by  our  hearts,  in 


68 

^  disaster,  in  chains,  in  torture,  and  in  death,  we  never 
|  faltered  in  defending." 

One  of  the  greatest  speeches  of  his  life  was  made  by 
Mr.  Lincoln  in  New  York,  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  on  the 
27th  of  February,  1860,  before  a  crowded  house  ;  the 
venerable  poet,  William  Cullen  Bryant,  presiding,  and 
introducing  the  speaker  in  highly  complimentary  terms. 
It  is  too  long  for  place  on  these  pages,  and  its  unity  so 
perfect,  that  it  is  not  easy  to  quote  from  it.  It  was  emi- 
nently patriotic,  and  did  much  toward  securing  for  him 
the  favor  of  the  New-York  Republicans  in  the  hour  of 
nomination  for  the  Presidency. 

Some  writer  has  given  the  following  pen-portrait  of 
President  Lincoln,  which  is  believed  to  be  correct:  — 

"  Mr.  Lincoln  stands  six  feet  and  four  inches  high  in  his 
stockings.  His  frame  is  not  muscular,  but  gaunt  and 
wiry ;  his  arms  are  long,  but  not  unreasonably  so  for  a 
person  of  his  height ;  his  lower  limbs  are  not  dispropor- 
tioned  to  his  body.  In  walking,  his  gait,  though  firm,  is 
never  brisk.  He  steps  slowly  and  deliberately,  almost 
always  with  his  head  inclined  forward,  and  his  hands 
clasped  behind  his  back.  In  matters  of  dress  he  is  by  no 
means  precise.  Always  clean,  he  is  never  fashionable ; 
he  is  careless,  but  not  slovenly.  In  manner  he  is  re- 
markably cordial,  and,  at  the  same  time,  simple.  His 
politeness  is  always  sincere,  but  never  elaborate  and 
oppressive.  A  warm  shake  of  the  hand,  and  a  warmer 
smile  of  recognition,  are  his  methods  of  greeting  his 
friends.  At  rest,  his  features,  though  those  of  a  man  of 
mark,  are  not  such  as  belong  to  a  handsome  man ;  but 
when  his  fine  dark  gray  eyes  are  lighted  up  by  any  emo- 
tion, and  his  features  begin  their  play,  he  would  be  chosen 
from  among  a  crowd  as  one  who  had  in  him  not  only  the 
kindly  sentiments  which  women  love,  but  the  heavier 


54  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

metal  of  which  full-grown  men  and  presidents  are  made. 
His  hair  is  black,  and,  though  thin,  is  wiry.  His  head 
sits  well  on  his. shoulders,  but  beyond  that  it  defies  de- 
scription. It  nearer  resembles  that  of  Clay  than  that  of 
Webster ;  but  it  is  unlike  either.  It  is  very  large,  and, 
phrenologically,  well-proportioned,  betokening  power  in 
all  its  developments.  A  slightly  Roman  nose,  a  wide- 
cut  mouth,  and  a  dark  complexion,  with  the  appearance 
of  having  been  weather-beaten,  complete  the  description. 

"  In  his  personal  habits,  Mr.  Lincoln  is  simple  as  a  child. 
He  loves  a  good  dinner,  and  eats  with  the  appetite  which 
goes  with  a  great  brain ;  but  his  food  is  plain  and  nutri- 
tious. He  never  drinks  intoxicating  liquors  of  any  sort, 
not  even  a  glass  of  wine.  He  is  not  addicted  to  the  use 
of  tobacco  in  any  shape.  He  never  was  accused  of  a 
licentious  act  in  all  his  life.  He  never  uses  profane 
language." 

How  would  the  heart  of  Lincoln's  pious  mother  have 
rejoiced,  could  she  have  foreseen  such  a  record  of  her 
son's  spotless  character  and  blameless  life  ! 

Still  another  writer  pictures  his  manner  in  speaking: 
"  As  a  speaker,  he  is  ready,  precise,  and  fluent.  His 
manner  before  a  popular  assembly  is  as  he  pleases  to 
make  it,  being  either  superlatively  ludicrous  or  very  im- 
pressive, lie  employs  but  little  gesticulation,  but,  when 
lie  desires  to  make  a  point,  produces  a  shrug  of  his 
shoulders,  an  elevation  of  his  eyebrows,  a  depression  of 
his  mouth,  and  a  general  malformation  of  countenance  so 
comically  awkward,  that  it  never  fails  to  bring  down 
the  house.  His  enunciation  is  slow  and  emphatic ;  and 
his  voice,  though  sharp  and  powerful,  at  times  has  a 
frequent  tendency  to  dwindle  into  a  shrill  and  unpleasant 
sound.  But,  as  before  stated,  the  peculiar  characteristic 
of  his  delivery  is  the  remarkable  mobility  of  his  features, 


PREPARATION  FOR   HIS    WORK.  55 

the  frequent  contortions  of  which  excite  a  merriment  hia 
words  could  not  produce." 

A  distinguished  scholar,  who  heard  him  debate  with 
Mr.  Douglas,  says,  "  He  then  proceeded  to  defend  the 
Republican  party.  Here  he  charged  Mr.  Douglas  with 
doing  nothing  for  freedom  ;  with  disregarding  the  rights 
and  interests  of  the  colored  man ;  and  for  about  forty 
minutes  he  spoke  with  a  power  that  we  have  seldom  heard 
equalled.  There  was  a  grandeur  in  his  thoughts,  a  com- 
prehensiveness in  his  arguments,  and  a  binding  force 
in  his  conclusions,  which  were  perfectly  irresistible. 
The  vast  throng  were  silent  as  death :  every  eye  was 
fixed  upon  the  speaker,  and  all  gave  him  serious  atten- 
tion. He  was  the  tall  man  eloquent :  his  countenance 
glowed  with  animation,  and  his  eye  glistened  with  an  in- 
telligence that  made  it  lustrous.  He  was  no  longer 
awkward  and  ungainly,  but  graceful,  bold,  command- 
ing." 

Here  the  chapter  narrating  the  struggles  and  suc- 
cesses of  his  manhood,  previous  to  his  entering  on  his 
great  work,  may  fittingly  close.  It  has  been  conclu- 
sively shown  that  the  growing  man  was  preparing  for 
the  advancing  era.  Bishop  Simpson  stated  in  his  funeral 
address,  that,  "as  early  as  1839,  Mr.  Lincoln  presented 
resolutions  in  the  Legislature  asking  for  emancipation  in 
the  District  of  Columbia,  when,  with  but  rare  excep- 
tions, the  whole  popular  mind  of  his  State  was  opposed 
to  the  measure.  From  that  hour  he  was  a  steady  and 
uniform  friend  of  humanity,  and  was  preparing  for  the 
conflict  of  later  years." 

Who  cannot  see  God's  hand  in  all  these  events,  though 
rapidly  traced,  as  the  hour  and  the  man  approached  each 
other  ?  The  scroll  of  Time  is  fast  unrolling  ;  and  aa 


66  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

every  daj  prophecy  becomes  history,  we  should  learn 
lessons  of  patient  hope,  and  humble,  earnest,  rejoicing 
faith ;  for  — 

"  Blind  unbelief  is  sure  to  err, 

And  scan  His  work  in  vain :       » 
God  is  his  own  interpreter, 
And  be  will  make  it  plain." 


CHAPTER    IV. 

CALLED    TO    THE   PRESIDENTIAL    CHAIS. 

"  The  man  whom  Heaven  appoiatt 
To  govern  others  should  himself  first  learn 
To  bend  his  passions  to  the  sway  of  reason." 

THOMSON'S  TANCRED  AND  SIOISMDMDA. 

"  Then  Samuel  took  the  horn  of  oil,  and  anointed  him  in  the  midst  of  his  breth- 
ren; and  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  came  upon  David  from  that  day  forward." 

1  SAM.  xvi.  13. 

THE  prepared  man  now  moved  toward  the  appointed 
place  of  labor.  The  hour  of  destiny  struck  in  Chicago 
on  the  18th  of  May,  1860,  when  the  Republican  National 
Convention  met  "  in  an  immense  building,  which  the  peo- 
ple of  Chicago  had  put  up  for  the  purpose,  called  the 
Wigwam.  There  were  four  hundred  and  sixty-five  dele- 
gates. The  city  was  filled  with  earnest  men  who  had 
gathered  to  press  the  claims  of  their  favorite  candidates, 
and  the  halls  and  corridors  of  all  the  hotels  swarmed  and 
buzzed  with  an  eager  crowd,  in  and  out  of  which  darted 
or  pushed  or  wormed  their  way  the  various  leaders  of 
party  politics."  * 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  then  at  his  home  in  Springfield.  With 
a  not  improper  anxiety  to  hear  the  result  of  the  Conven- 
tion he  called  at  the  telegraph-office,  and  there  learned 
how  the  first  and  second  ballots  resulted.  He  then  left, 
and,  going  to  the  office  of  the  "  State  Journal,"  sat  there 
quietly  conversing  with  some  friends,  when  a  boy  placed 
a  note  m  his  hand.  It  was  the  announcement  of  his 

•  Baymond'i  ••  Life  of  Lincoln." 

U 


58 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


nomination  on  the  third  ballot.  He  looked  at  it  silently, 
while  the  friends  around  him  shouted  in  triumph  ;  and 
then,  putting  it  into  his  pocket,  with  characteristic  calm- 
ness he  said,  in  his  own  peculiar  way,  "  There  is  a  little 
woman  down  at  our  house  would  like  to  hear  this;  I'll 
go  down  and  tell  her;"  and  immediately  returned  to  hia 
home. 

The  next  day  brought  to  Springfield  the  Committee 
appointed  by  the  Convention  to  inform  Mr.  Lincoln  of- 
ficially of  his  nomination.  They  were  escorted  to  his 
house  by  a  large  concourse  of  citizens.  One  *  who  was 
present  on  that  occasion,  and  will  never  forget  that 
memorable  visit  to  the  plain,  white,  two-story  wooden 


LINCOLN'S  IIOJUE  IN  SPRINGFIELD. 

house,  on  the  corner  of  two  streets,  where  the  unpre- 
tending nominee  received  his  official  visitors,  stated  to 
the  writer  of  those  pages  that  no  refreshments  were 
proi  ided  save  iced-water  ;  and  that  when  citizens  of 

•  C.  G.  Coffin,  Eiq. 


CALLED    TO    THE   PRESIDENTIAL    CHAIR.  59 

Springfield,  apprising  Mr.  Lincoln  of  the  coming  Com- 
mittee, asked  him  to  furnish  them  with  wine,  &c., 
as  was  customary,  he  refused,  saying  he  never  used 
liquors  himself,  and  could  not  give  them  toothers:  they 
insisted  on  furnishing  some  themselves ;  but  the  noble 
man  answered  characteristically,  "  I  will  not  permit  my 
friends  to  do  in  my  house  what  I  will  not  do  myself." 
So  temperance  principles  triumphed,  and  those  citizens 
could  only  "put  the  cup  to  their  neighbors'  lip"  by 
taking  them  afterward  to  a  hotel,  where  all  who  wished 
strong  drink  could  be  gratified. 

The  President  of  the  Convention  was  spokesman  for 
)he  Committee,  and  in  a  brief  speech  informed  the  host 
Df  his  nomination.  With  an  expression  half  sad,  half  dig- 
lified,  Mr.  Lincoln  heard  the  words ;  and,  after  a  short 
pause  of  reflection,  he  answered  :  — 

'MR.  CHAIRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  COMMITTEE, — 

"  I  tender  to  you,  and  through  you  to  the  Republican 
National  Convention,  and  all  the  people  represented  in 
ft,  my  profoundest  thanks  for  the  high  honor  done  me, 
which  you  now  formally  announce.  Deeply  and  even 
painfully  sensible  of  the  great  responsibility  which  is 
inseparable  from  this  high  honor, —  a  responsibility 
which  I  could  almost  Avish  had  fallen  upon  some  one  of 
tl.o  far  more  eminent  men  and  experienced  statesmen 
whose  distinguished  names  were  before  the  Convention, 
—  I  shall,  by  your  leave,  consider  more  fully  the  resolu- 
tions of  the  Convention  denominated  the  platform,  and 
without  any  unnecessary  or  unreasonable  delay  respond 
to  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  in  writing,  not  doubting  that  the 
platform  will  be  found  satisfactory,  and  the  nomination 
gratefully  accepted.  And  now  I  will  not  longer  defer 
the  pleasure  of  taking  you  and  each  of  you  by  the 
Laud." 


80  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

As  one  incident  of  this  interesting  occasion,  it  ia  said 
that  "  tall  Judge  Kelly  of  Pennsylvania,  who  was  one 
of  the  Committee,  and  who  is  himself  a  great  many  feet 
high,  had  meanwhile  been  eying  Mr.  Lincoln's  lofty 
form  with  a  mixture  of  admiration,  and  very  likely 
jealousy :  this  had  not  escaped  Mr.  Lincoln,  and,  as  he 
shook  hands  with  the  judge,  he  inquired,  '  What  is  your 
height? ' — 'Six  feet  three :  what  is  yours,  Mr.  Lincoln? ' 
'  Six  feet  four.' 

"'Then,'  said  the  judge,  'Pennsylvania  bows  to  Illinois. 
My  dear  man,  for  years  my  heart  has  been  aching  for  a 
President  that  I«could  look  up  to,  and  I've  found  him  at 
last  in  a  land  where  we  thought  there  were  none  but 
little  giants.' "  * 

On  the  23d  of  the  month,  Mr.  Lincoln  replied  formally, 
by  letter,  to  the  official  announcement  of  his  nomination, 
in  these  words  :  — 

"  Hon.  GEORGE  ASHMUN. 

"  Sir,  —  1  accept  the  nomination  tendered  me  by  the 
Convention  over  which  you  presided,  of  which  I  am 
formally  apprised  in  a  letter  of  yourself  and  others  acting 
as  a  Committee  of  the  Convention  for  that  purpose.  The 
declaration  of  principles  and  sentiments  which  accom- 
panies your  letter  meets  my  approval,  and  it  shall  be  my 
care  not  to  violate  it  or  disregard  it  in  any  part.  Im- 
ploring the  assistance  of  Divine  Providence,  and  with 
due  regard  to  the  views  and  feelings  of  all  who  were 
represented  in  the  Convention,  to  the  rights  of  all  the 
States  and  Territories  and  people  of  the  nation,  to  the 
inviolability  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  perpetual  union, 
harmony,  and  prosperity  of  all,  I  am  'most  happy  to  co- 

•  Raymond's  "  Life  of  Lincoln." 


CALLED   tO   THE  PRESIDENTIAL   CHA1H,  61 

operate  for  the  practical  success   of  the  principles  de- 
clared by  the  Convention. 

"  Your  obliged  friend  and  fellow-citizen, 

"ABRAHAM  LINCOLN." 

The  enthusiasm  of  the  Republicans  during  the  ensuing 
presidential  campaign  was  very  great,  scarcely  equalled 
even  in  the  log-cabin  days  of  "  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too ; " 
and,  as  one  after  another  of  the  Northern  and  Western 
States  declared  the  Chicago  nominee  to  be  their  choice, 
the  wildest  demonstrations  of  joy  were  exhibited  in 
torch-light  processions,  illuminations,  &c.,  all  over  the 
loyal  portion  of  the  country.  The  Quakers  of  Pennsyl- 
vania were  moved  from  their  position  of  "eminent  grav- 
ity "  on  this  occasion,  and  polled  an  overwhelming  vote 
for  the  champion  of  liberty;  and  the  Quaker  poet  —  who 
stands  second  to  none  in  America  —  told  the  triumph  in 
tuneful  numbers.* 

The  solid  phalanx  of  earnest  men  who  had  resolved 
that  freedom  should  reign  in  America  formed  a  body  of 

*  It  was  the  privilege  of  the  writer  to  prepare,  as  a  portion  of  the  street 
decorations  on  the  premises  of  Mr.  S.  D.  Herrick,  on  the  occasion  of  a  jubilee 
illumination  in  Beverly,  Mass.,  one  line  of  Whittier's  poem,  in  gigantic  letter- 
ing; T:Z.,  "  For  Lincoln  goes  in  when  the  Quakers  come  out."  The  whole 
poem  was  read  at  a  Republican  meeting  in  Georgetown,  Mass.,  and  was  as 
follows :  — 

"  Not  vainly  we  waited,  and  counted  the  hours; 
The  buds  of  our  hope  have1  burst  out  into  flowers. 
No  room  for  misgiving;  no  loop-hole  of  doubt: 
We've  heard  from  the  Keystone  I    The  Quakers  are  out! 

The  plot  has  exploded;  we've  found  out  the  trick; 
The  bribe  goes  a-begging;  the  fusion  won't  stick : 
When  the  Wide-Awake  lanterns  are  shining  about, 
The  rogues  stay  at  home,  and  the  true  men  come  out  I 

The  good  State  has  broken  the  cords  for  her  spun  ; 
tier  oil-ipriug*  and  water  won't  fuse  into  one; 


62  A&ltASAM  LINCOLN. 

nearly  two  millions  of  voters,  who  carried  for  Mr.  Lincoln 
the  electoral  votes  of  the  States  of  Maine,  New  Hamp- 
shire, Vermont,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecti- 
cut, New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Michigan,  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  and  California. 

Already  the  mutterings  of  the  coming  storm  were  to 
be  heard  along  the  horizon.  A  pusillanimous  President 
sat  helpless  in  the  White  House,  while  seceding  States 
unrighteously  possessed  themselves  of  forts  and  other 
Government  property,  and  began  to  prepare  for  civil 
war.  Never  nation  needed  a  leader  more.  God  saw 
our  necessity.  It  was  his  glorious  opportunity.  He 
saw  our  need  of  a  pillar  of  fire  in  the  night  of  war  fast 
settling  down  upon  us;  and,  lo!  Abraham  Lincoln  "stood 
before  us,  a  man  of  the  people.  He  was  thoroughly 
American;  had  never  crossed  the  sea,  had  never  been 
spoiled  by  English  insularity  or  French  dissipation ;  a 
quiet  native,  aboriginal  man,  as  an  acorn  from  the  oak ; 
no  aping  of  foreigners,  no  frivolous  accomplishments ; 
Kentuckian-born,  working  on  a  farm  ;  a  fiatboat-man,  a 
captain  in  the  Black-Hawk  WTar,  a  country  lawyer,  a 
representative  in  the  rural  Legislature  of  Illinois,  —  on 
such  modest  foundations  the  broad  structure  of  his  fame 
was  laid.  How  slowly,  and  yet  by  happily  prepared 
steps,  he  came  to  his  place  ! "  * 

One  eloquent  eulogist  f  thus  pictured  the  people's 
choice :  "  In  person  he  was  tall  and  rugged,  with  little 

The  Dutchman  has  seasoned  with  freedom  his  krout; 
And  slow,  Into,  but  certain,  the  Quakers  are  out ! 

Give  the  (lag  to  the  winds  !  set  the  hills  all  aflame  I 
Make  way  for  the  man  with  the  patriarch's  name  ! 
Aw;iy  with  misgiving:,  away  with  all  doubt! 
For  LINCOLN  goes  in  when  the  Quakers  come  out ! " 

•  B.  W.  Emerson.  t  Hon.  Charles  Sumn«. 


CALLED  TO  TffS  PRESIDENTIAL  CSAltt.  63 

resemblance  to  any  historic  portrait,  unless  he  might 
seem  in  one  respect  to  justify  the  epithet  which  was 
giveu  to  an  early  English  monarch.  His  countenance 
had  even  more  of  rugged  strength  than  his  person. 
Perhaps  the  quality  which  struck  the  most  at  first  sight 
was  his  simplicity  of  manners  and  conversation,  without 
form  or  ceremony  of  any  kind,  beyond  that  among  neigh- 
bors. His  hand-writing  had  the  same  simplicity.  It 
was  as  clear  as  that  of  Washington,  but  less  florid.  Each 
dad  been  a  surveyor,  and  was  perhaps  indebted  to  this  ex- 
perience. But  the  son  of  the  Western  pioneer  was  more 
simple  in  nature,  and  the  man  appeared  in  the  autograph. 
That  integrity  which  has  become  a  proverb  belonged  to 
the  same  quality.  The  most  perfect  honesty  must  be 
the  most  perfect  simplicity.  The  words  by  which  an 
ancient  Roman  was  described  belong  to  him :  Vitd  in- 
nocent issimus,  proposito  sanctissimus.  He  was  naturally 
humane,  inclined  to  pardon,  and  never  remembering  the 
hard  things  said  against  him.  He  was  always  good  to 
the  poor,  and  in  his  dealings  with  them  was  full  of  those 
•'  kind  little  words  which  are  of  the  same  blood  as  great 
and  holy  deeds.'  Such  a  character  awakened  instinc- 
tively the  sympathy  of  the  people.  They  saw  his  fellow- 
feeling  with  them,  and  felt  the  kinship.  With  him  as 
President,  the  idea  of  republican  institutions,  where  no 
place  is  too  high  for  the  humblest,  was  perpetually  man- 
ifest, so  that  his  simple  presence  was  like  a  proclamation 
of  the  equality  of  all  men." 

Such  pen-pictures  of  this  great  and  good  man  are  often 
to  be  met, and  will  continually  be  drawn  by  poets, eulogists, 
and  historians.  One  of  those  invaluable  newspaper  cor- 
respondents, who  like  his  co-laborers  aided  to  give  the 
waiting  North  a  true  panorama  of  events  from  time  to  time, 
thus  speaks  of  President  Lincoln:  "Our  interview  left 


64  A6RABAM  LINCOLN. 

no  grotesque  recollections  of  the  President  lounging,  hia 
huge  hands  and  feet,  great  mouth,  or  angular  features. 
We  remembered  rather  the  ineffable  tenderness  which 
shone  through  his  gentle  eyes,  his  childlike  ingenuous- 
ness,  his  utter  integrity,  and  his  love  of  country.  Igno- 
rant of  etiquette  and  conventionalities,  without  the  graces 
of  form  or  manner,  his  great  reluctance  to  give  pain,  hia 
beautiful  regard  for  the  feelings  of  others,  made  him  — 

1  Worthy  to  bear  without  reproach 
The  grand  old  name  of  gentleman.' 

iStrong  without  symmetry,  humorous  without  levity, 
religious  without  cant;  tender,  merciful,  forgiving;  a 
profound  believer  in  divine  love,  an  earnest  worker  for 
human  brotherhood,  —  Abe  Lincoln  was  perhaps  the  best 
contribution  which  America  has  made  to  history."* 

As  another  most  eloquent  eulogist  f  said  before  the 
General  Assembly  of  Connecticut,  "  Plis  greatness  is  the 
most  original  and  bizarre  in  the  world's  history,  shaped 
after  no  model,  suggesting  as  a  compact  whole  no  pattern, 
no  parallel,  .  .  .  and  can  only  be  loosely  described  as 
composed  of  great  simplicity,  great  naturalness,  great 
bonhomie,  great  shrewdness,  great  strength,  great  de- 
votion, great  equanimity,  and  great  success,  on  the 
greatest  theatre  ever  offered  to  such  qualities  for 
exhibition.  .  .  .  Ennobled  by  no  patent  but  that  of 
nature,  with  no  diploma  but  his  record,  crowned  as  it 
were  with  the  wild  flowers  of  the  forest,  and  with  all  its 
flavor  and  freshness  upon  him,  he  walks  into  the  surprised 
Pantheon  of  the  world's  great  men,  a  large  grotesque 
backwoodsman,  but  with  credentials  to  admission  which 

•  A.  D.  Richardson's  "  The  Secret  Service,  —  the  Field,  Dungeon,  and 
Escape." 

t  Hon.  H.  C.  Deming. 


CALLED    TO    THE   RESIDENTIAL    CHAIR.  65 

cannot  be  challenged  or  disallowed ;  like  the  hirsute  and 
half-naked  Brennus  striding  into  the  grave  and  reverend 
decorum  of  a  Roman  senate;  like  Hans  Luther's  plebeian 
and  beetle-browed  son  confronting  the  stoled,  mitred, 
and  ermined  Diet  of  Charles  the  Fifth ;  like  a  red-nosed, 
cropped,  and  mail-clad  Cromwell,  shuffling  through  the 
silken  splendors,  the  Vandyke  dresses,  the  perfumed  love- 
locks, and  the  fastidious  etiquette,  of  outraged  White- 
hall ;  like  St.  Artegans'  iron  soldier,  marching  with  his 
invincible  flail  into  the  startled  and  shrinking  ranks  of 
vulnerable  and  pain-suffering  warriors." 

One  aim  of  this  volume  is  to  give  a  true  picture  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  as  a  man,  and  the  concurrent  testimony 
of  various  contemporaries  is  exceedingly  valuable.  The 
"  New- York  World,"  which,  while  he  lived,  was  ever  op- 
posed to  his  cause  and  policy,  thus  spoke  of  the  people's 
choice  when  death  had  set  its  seal  upon  his  virtues:  — 

"If we  look  for  the  elements  of  character  which  have 
contributed  to  the  extraordinary  and  constantly  growing 
popularity  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  we  have  not  far  to  seek.  The 
kindly,  companionable,  jovial  turn  of  his  disposition,  free 
from  every  taint  of  affectation,  puerile  vanity,  or  parvenu 
insolence,  conveyed  a  strong  impression  of  worth,  sense, 
and  solidity,  as  well  as  goodness  of  heart.  He  never 
disclosed  the  slightest  symptom  that  he  was  dazzled  or 
elated  by  his  great  position,  or  that  it  was  incumbent 
upon  him  to  be  anybody  but  plain  Abraham  Lincoln. 
This  was  in  infinitely  better  taste  than  would  have  been 
any  attempt  to  put  on  manners  that  did  not  sit  easily 
upon  his  training  and  habits,  under  the  false  notion  that 
he  would  be  supporting  the  dignity  of  his  office.  No 
offence  in  manners  is  so  intolerable  as  affectation,  nor  any 
thing  so  vulgar  as  a  soul  haunted  by  an  uneasy  conscious- 
ness of  vulgarity.  Mr.  Lincoln's  freedom  from  any  such 


66  ABRABAM  LINCOLN. 

upstart  affectations  was  one  of  the  good  points  oi  his 
character:  it  betokened  his  genuineness  and  sincerity." 

On  the  llth  of  February,  1861,  the  President  elect 
left  his  home  in  Springfield  for  Washington.  A  vast 
crowd  attended  him  at  the  depot ;  and  before  the  cars 
started  he  thus  addressed  a  few  farewell  words  to  his 
neighbors  and  friends  :  — 

"Mr  FRIENDS,  —  No  one  not  in  my  position  can  appreci- 
ate the  sadness  I  feel  at  this  parting.  To  this  people  1 
owe  all  that  I  am.  Here  I  have  lived  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century.  Here  my  children  were  born,  and  here  one 
of  them  lies  buried.  I  know  not  how  soon  I  shall  see 
you  again.  A  duty  devolves  upon  me  which  is  perhaps 
greater  than  that  which  has  devolved  upon  any  other  man 
since  the  days  of  Washington.  He  never  would  have 
succeeded  except  for  the  aid  of  Divine  Providence,  upon 
which  he  at  all  times  relied.  I  feel  that  I  cannot  succeed 
without  the  same  divine  aid  which  sustained  him,  and 
in  the  same  Almighty  Being  I  place  my  reliance  for  sup- 
port ;  and  I  hope  you,  my  friends,  will  all  pray  that  I  may 
receive  that  divine  assistance,  without  which  1  cannot 
succeed,  but  with  which  success  is  certain.  Again  I  bid 
you  all  an  affectionate  farewell." 

All  along  the  route  to  the  Capitol,  multitudes  assem- 
bled at  the  railway  stations  to  greet  him,  and  on  several 
occasions  he  addressed  them  in  few  but  happily  chosen 
words. 

At  Toledo,  in  response  to  continual  calls,  he  appeared 
on  the  platform,  and  said,  "  I  am  leaving  you  on  an 
errand  of  national  importance,  attended,  as  you  are  aware, 
with  considerable  difficulties.  Let  us  believe,  as  some 
poet  has  expressed  it,  — 

'  Behind  the  cloud  the  sun  is  shining  still.' 

I  bid  you  an  affectionate  farewell." 


CALLED   TO   TSB  PRKSIDElf'i'tAL   CHAIR.  67 

At  Indianapolis,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  welcomed  by  the 
Governor  of  the  State,  and  escorted  by  a  procession 
composed  of  the  Legislature,  municipal  authorities,  mili- 
tary, and  firemen.  On  reaching  the  hotel,  he  addressed 
the  people  in  his  own  homely  and  humorous  but  sensible 
manner,  giving  some  intimation  of  the  policy  he  would 
pursue :  — 

"  FELLOW-CITIZENS  OF  THE  STATE  OF  INDIANA,  —  I  am 
here  to  thank  you  for  this  magnificent  welcome,  and  still 
more  for  the  very  generous  support  given  by  your  State 
to  that  political  cause,  which,  I  think,  is  the  true  and 
just  cause  of  the  whole  country  and  the  whole  world. 
Solomon  says,  '  There  is  a  time  to  keep  silence ; '  and 
when  men  wrangle  by  the  mouth,  with  no  certainty  that 
they  mean  the  same  thing  while  using  the  same  words, 
it  perhaps  were  as  well  if  they  would  keep  silence. 

"  The  words  '  coercion  '  and  '  invasion '  are  much  used 
in  these  days,  and  often  with  some  temper  arid  hot  blood. 
Let  us  make  sure,  if  we  can,  that  we  do  not  misunder- 
stand the  meaning  of  those  who  use  them.  Let  us  get 
the  exact  definition  of  these  words,  not  from  dictionaries, 
but  from  the  men  themselves,  who  certainly  deprecate 
the  things  they  would  represent  by  the  use  of  the  words. 
What,  then,  is  '  coercion'?  what  is  '  invasion'?  Would 
the  marching  of  an  army  into  South  Carolina,  without 
the  consent  of  her  people,  and  with  hostile  intent  toward 
them,  be  invasion?  I  certainly  think  it  would,  and  it 
would  be  coercion  also  if  the  South  Carolinians  were 
forced  to  submit.  But  if  the  United  States  should  merely 
hold  and  retake  its  own  forts  and  other  property,  and 
collect  the  duties  on  foreign  importations,  or  even  with- 
hold the  mails  from  places  where  they  were  habitually 
violated,  would  any  or  all  of  these  things  be  invasion  or 
coercion  ?  Do  our  professed  lovers  of  the  Union,  who 


68  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

spitefully  resolve  that  they  will  resist  coercion  and  in 
vasion,  understand  that  such  things  as  tT<ese,  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States,  would  be  coercion  or  invasion  of  a 
State?  If  so,  their  idea  of  means  to  preserve  the  object 
of  their  great  affection  would  seem  to  be  exceedingly 
thin  and  airy.  If  sick,  the  little  pills  of  the  homoeopathist 
would  be  much  too  large  for  it  to  swallow.  In  their 
view,  the  Union,  as  a  family  relation,  would  seem  to  be 
no  regular  marriage,  but  rather  a  sort  of  free-love  ai- 
rangement,  to  be  maintained  on  passional  attraction. 

"  By  the  way,  in  what  consists  the  special  sacredness 
of  a  State  ?  I  speak  not  of  the  position  assigned  to  a 
State  in  the  Union  by  the  Constitution,  for  that  is  a  bond 
we  all  recognize.  That  position,  however,  a  State  can- 
not carry  out  of  the  Union  with  it.  I  speak  of  that  as- 
sumed primary  right  of  a  State  to  rule  all  which  is  les-; 
than  itself,  and  to  ruin  all  which  is  larger  than  itself.  If 
a  State  and  a  county,  in  a  given  case,  should  be  equal 
in  number  of  inhabitants,  in  what,  as  a  matter  of  princi- 
ple, is  the  State  better  than  the  county  ?  Would  an  ex- 
change of  name  be  an  exchange  of  rights?  Upon  what 
principle,  upon  what  rightful  principle,  may  a  State,  being 
no  more  than  one-fiftieth  part  of  the  nation  in  soil  and 
population,  break  up  the  nation,  and  then  coerce  a  propor- 
tionably  large  sub-division  of  itself  in  the  most  arbitrary 
way  ?  What  mysterious  right  to  play  tyrant  is  con- 
ferred on  a  district  or  county,  with  its  people,  by  simply 
calling  it  a  State  ?  Fellow-citizens,  I  am  not  asserting 
any  thing  :  I  am  merely  asking  questions  for  you  to  con- 
sider. And  now  allow  me  to  bid  you  farewell." 

At  Cincinnati,  the  President  elect  received  a  most  en- 
thusiastic welcome.  lie  was  escorted  to  the  Burnet 
House  by  the  Mayor  of  the  city,  who  addressed  him  in 
words  of  welcome,  to  which  he  made  a  fitting  re- 
spouse. 


CALLED    TO    THE   PRESIDENTIAL    CHAIR.  69 

At  Columbus  also  be  received  a  cordial  welcome}  and 
spoke  briefly.  At  Steubenville  he  also  made  a  brief  ad- 
dress. He  spoke  also  at  Pittsburg  and  Cleveland  ;  but 
the  limits  of  this  volume  forbid  the  insertion  of  all  these 
speeches.  Ex-President  Fillmore  headed  the  citizen- 
host  who  greeted  him  at  Buffalo,  and  the  Mayor  wel- 
comed him  in  words.  At  Albany  he  was  conducted  to 
the  Capitol,  and  welcomed  by  Gov.  Morgan.  At  Pough- 
keepsie  he  was  welcomed  by  the  Mayor,  and  also  in 
New  York.  It  is  said  that  the  reception  in  that  com- 
mercial metropolis  was  "  a  most  imposing  demonstra- 
tion :  places  of  business  were  generally  closed,  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  were  in  the  streets."  At  Tren- 
ton he  tarried  a  few  hours,  and  visited  both  houses 
of  the  Legislature.  He  addressed  the  Senate  as  fol 
lows  :  — 

•  MR.  PRESIDENT,  AND  GF.XTJ.EMEX  OF  TIIK 

SEXATE  OF  TIIE  STATE  OF  NEW  JERSEY,  — 

"  I  am  very  grateful  to  you  for  the  honorable  recep- 
tion of  which  I  have  been  the  o.bject.  I  cannot  but 
remember  the  place  that  New  Jersey  holds  in  our  early 
history.  In  the  early  Revolutionary  struggle,  few  of  the 
States  among  the  old  Thirteen  had  more  of  the  battle- 
fields of  the  country  within  its  limits  than  old  New  Jer- 
sey. May  I  be  pardoned,  if,  upon  this  occasion,  I  men- 
tion that  away  back  in  my  childhood,  the  earliest  days 
of  my  being  able  to  read,  I  got  hold  of  a  small  book, — 
such  a  one  as  few  of  the  younger  members  have  ever 
seen, — Weems's  '  Life  of  Washington'  ?  I  remember  all 
the  accounts  there  given  of  the  battle-fields  and  struggles 
for  the  liberty  of  the  country;  and  none  fixed  themselves 
upon  my  imagination  so  deeply  as  the  struggle  here  at 
Trenton,  New  Jersey.  The  crossing  of  the  river,  tUe 


70  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

contest  with  the  Hessians,  the  great  hardships  endured 
at  that  time,  all  fixed  themselves  on  my  memory  more 
than  any  single  Revolutionary  event;  and  you  all  know, 
for  you  have  all  been  boys,  how  these  early  impressions 
last  longer  than  any  others.  I  recollect  thinking  then, 
boy  even  though  I  was,  that  there  must  have  been  some- 
thing more  than  common  that  those  men  struggled  for. 
I  am  exceedingly  anxious  that  that  thing  which  they 
struggled  for ;  that  something,  even  more  than  national 
independence ;  that  something,  that  held  out  a  great 
promise  to  all  the  people  of  the  world  in  all  time  to 
come,  —  I  am  exceedingly  anxious  that  this  Union,  the 
Constitution,  and  the  liberties  of  the  people,  shall  be 
perpetuated  in  accordance  with  the  original  idea  for 
which  that  struggle  was  made;  and  I  shall  be  happy 
indeed  if  I  shall  be  a  humble  instrument,  in  the  hands 
of  the  Almighty  and  of  this  his  almost  chosen  people, 
tor  perpetuating  the  object  of  that  great  struggle.  You 
give  me  this  reception,  as  I  understand,  without  dis- 
tinction of  party.  I  learn  that  this  body  is  composed  of 
a  majority  of  gentlemen,  who,  in  the  exercise  of  their 
best  judgment  in  the  choice  of  a  chief  magistrate,  did 
not  think  I  was  "the  man.  I  understand,  nevertheless, 
that  they  came  forward  here  to  greet  me  as  the  consti- 
tutional President  of  the  United  States ;  as  citizens  of 
the  United  States,  to  meet  the  man,  who,  for  the  time 
being,  is  the  representative  man  of  the  nation,  united 
by  a  purpose  to  perpetuate  the  Union  and  liberties  of 
the  people.  As  such,  I  accept  this  reception  more  grate- 
fully than  I  could  do  did  I  believe  it  was  tendered  to  me 
as  an  individual." 

Mr.  Lincoln  then  addressed  the  Assembly;  and  after 
repeating,  in  substance,  some  things  in  his  previous 
speech,  continued :  "  You,  Mr.  Speaker,  have  well  said 


CALLED   TO   THE  PRESIDENTIAL   CHAIR.  71 

that  this  is  the  time  when  the  bravest  and  wisest  look 
with  doubt  and  awe  upon  the  aspect  presented  by  our 
national  affairs.  Under  these  circumstances,  you  will 
readily  see  why  I  should  not  speak  in  detail  of  the 
course  I  shall  deem  it  best  to  pursue.  It  is  proper  that 
I  should  avail  myself  of  all  the  information  and  all 
the  time  at  my  command,  in  order  that,  when  the  time 
arrives  in  which  I  must  speak  officially,  I  shall  be  able 
to  take  the  ground  which  I  deem  the  best  and  safest, 
and  from  which  I  may  have  no  occasion  to  swerve.  1 
shall  endeavor  to  take  the  ground  I  deem  most  just  to 
the  North,  the  East,  the  West,  the  South,  and  the  whole 
country.  I  take  it,  I  hope,  in  good  temper,  —  certainly 
with  no  malice  towards  any  section.  I  shall  do  all  that 
may  be  in  my  power  to  promote  a  peaceful  settlement 
of  all  our  difficulties.  The  man  does  not  live  who  is 
more  devoted  to  peace  than  I  am ;  none  who  would  do 
more  to  preserve  it.  But  it  may  be  necessary  to  put 
the  foot  firmly  down  ;  and  if  I  do  my  duty,  and  do  it 
right,  you  will  sustain  me,  will  you  not  ?  Received  as 
I  am  by  the  members  of  a  Legislature,  the  majority  of 
whom  do  not  agree  with  me  in  political  sentiment,  I 
trust  that  I  may  have  their  assistance  in  piloting  the 
Ship  of  State  through  this  vo}Tage,  surrounded  by  perils 
as  it  is  ;  for,  if  it  should  suffer  shipwreck  now,  there  will 
be  no  pilot  needed  for  another  voyage." 

On  arriving  at  Philadelphia,  the  words  of  welcome 
and  response  were  again  uttered  ;  and  the  next  morning 
Mr.  Lincoln  visited  the  old  "  Independence  Hall "  for 
the  purpose  of  raising  the  national  flag  over  it.  Here 
he  was  warmly  welcomed,  and  spoke  as  follows  :  — 

"  1  am  filled  with  deep  emotion  at  finding  myself  stand 
ing  here  in  this  place,  where  were  collected  the  wisdom, 
the  patriotism,  the  devotion  to  principle,  from  whicj) 


72  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

sprang  the  institutions  under  which  we  live.  You  have 
kindly  suggested  to  me  that  in  my  hands  is  the  task  of 
restoring  peace  to  the  present  distracted  condition  of 
the  country.  I  can  say  in  return,  sir,  that  all  the  politi- 
cal sentiments  I  entertain  have  been  drawn,  so  far  as  I 
have  been  able  to  draw  them,  from  the  sentiments  which 
originated,  and  were  given  to  the  world,  from  this  hall. 
I  have  never  had  a  feeling  politically  that  did  not 
spring  from  the  sentiments  embodied  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  I  have  often  pondered  over  the  dan- 
gers which  were  incurred  by  the  men  who  assembled 
here,  and  framed  and  adopted  that  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence. I  have  pondered  over  the  toils  that  were 
endured  by  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  army  who 
achieved  that  independence.  I  have  often  inquired  of 
myself  what  great  principle  or  idea  it  was  that  kept  this 
confederacy  so  long  together.  It  was  not  the  mere  mat- 
ter of  the  separation  of  the  colonies  from  the  mother- 
land, but  that  sentiment  in  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence which  gave  liberty,  not  alone  to  the  people  of  this 
country,  but,  I  hope,  to  the  world  for  all  future  time.  It 
was  that  which  gave  promise,  that,  in  due  time,  the  weight 
would  be  lifted  from  the  shoulders  of  all  men.  This  is 
a  sentiment  embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence. Now,  my  friends,  can  this  country  be  saved  upon 
this  basis  ?  If  it  can,  1  will  consider  myself  one  of  the 
happiest  men  in  the  world  if  I  can  help  to  save  it.  If  it 
cannot  be  saved  upon  that  principle,  it  will  be  truly 
awful.  But  if  this  country  cannot  be  saved  without 
giving  up  that  principle,  I  waa  about  to  say  I  would 
rather  be  assassinated  on  this  spot  than  surrender  it. 
Now,  in  my  view  of  the  present  aspect  of  affairs,  there 
need  be  no  bloodshed  or  war.  There  is  no  necessity 
for  it.  I  am  not  in  favor  of  such  a  course  ;  and  I  may 


CALLED    TO    THE   PRESIDENTIAL    CHAIR.  73 

say,  in  advance,  that  there  will  be  no  blood  shed  unless 
it  be  forced  upon  the  Government,  and  then  it  will  be 
forced  to  act  in  self-defence. 

"  My  friends,  this  is  wholly  an  unexpected  speech,  and 
I  did  not  expect  to  be  called  upon  to  say  a  word  when  I 
came  here.  I  supposed  it  was  merely  to  do  something 
towards  raising  the  flag.  I  may,  therefore,  have  said 
something  indiscreet.  I  have  said  nothing  but  what  J 
am  willing  to  live  by,  and,  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  Al- 
mighty God,  to  die  by." 

The  party  then  proceeded  to  a  platform  in  front  of 
the  State  House ;  and  there  Mr.  Lincoln  made  a  brief 
speech,  stating  his  willingness  to  comply  with  the  re- 
quest to  raise  the  flag,  and  alluded  to  the  original  flag 
of  thirteen  stars,  saying  that  "  the  number  had  increased 
as  time  rolled  on,  and  each  star  added  to  the  prosperity 
of  the  nation. 

"  The  future,"  he  added,  "  is  in  the  hands  of  the  peo- 
ple. It  is  on  such  an  occasion  as  this  that  we  can  reason 
together,  and  re-affirm  our  devotion  to  the  country  and 
the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Let 
us  make  up  our  minds,  that,  when  we  do  put  a  new  star 
upon  our  banner,  it  shall  be  a  fixed  one,  never  to  be 
dimmed  by  the  horrors  of  war,  but  brightened  by  the 
contentment  and  prosperity  of  peace.  Let  us  go  on  to 
extend  the  area  of  our  usefulness,  add  star  upon  star, 
until  their  light  shall  shine  upon  five  hundred  millions 
of  a  free  and  happy  people."  Mr.  Lincoln  then  raised 
the  flag  to  the  top  of  the  staff. 

Shortly  after,  he  and  his  party  left  for  Harrisburg. 
Here  he  addressed  the  Legislature ;  and,  referring  to 
the  morning's  experience,  said,  "  Our  friends  there  had 
provided  a  magnificent  flag  of  the  country.  They  had 
arranged  it  so  that  I  was  given  the  honor  of  raising  it 
7 


J4  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

to  the  head  of  its  staff;  and,  when  it  went  up,  I  was 
pleased  that  it  went  to  its  place  by  the  strength  of  my 
own  feeble  arm.  When,  according  to  the  arrangement, 
the  cord  was  pulled,  and  it  flaunted  gloriously  to  the  wind 
without  an  accident  in  the  bright  glowing  sunshine  of 
the  morning,  I  could  not  help  hoping  that  there  was,  in 
the  entire  success  of  that  beautiful  ceremony,  at  least 
something  of  an  omen  of  what  is  to  come  ;  nor  could  1 
help  feeling  then,  as  I  often  have  felt,  in  the  whole  of 
that  proceeding,  1  was  a  very  humble  instrument.  I  had 
not  provided  the  flag ;  I  had  not  made  arrangements 
for  elevating  it  to  its  place;  I  had  applied  but  a  very 
small  portion  of  my  feeble  strength  in  raising  it.  In  the 
whole  transaction,  I  was  in  the  hands  of  the  people  who 
had  arranged  it ;  and,  if  I  can  have  the  same  generous 
co-operation  of  the  people  of  the  nation,  I  think  the  flag 
of  our  country  may  be  kept  flaunting  gloriously  1 " 

Those  who  lived  to  see  the  events  of  the  four  years 
in  which  President  Lincoln  guided  the  nation  to  victory 
and  freedom  can  recognize  the  omen  of  which  he  spoke, 
as  gloriously  fulfilled. 

He  did  not  speak  again  in  public  till  he  reached  Wash- 
ington. At  Philadelphia,  information  was  communicated 
to  him  of  a  plot  which  was  on  foot  to  assassinate  him  in 
Baltimore.  The  existence  of  such  a  plot  had  been  sus- 
pected before.  Threats  had  been  freely  made  by  the 
more  fanatical  Southern  men  that  he  would  never  reach 
Washington  alive.  An  attempt  was  made  to  throw  from 
the  track  the  car  in  wJiich  he  was  riding  on  his  journey 
through  Ohio  ;  and,  just  as  he  was  leaving  Cincinnati,  a 
hand-grenade  was  found  to  have  been  secreted  on  board 
the  cars.  Investigations  were  set  on  foot  which  revealed 
the  fact  that  a  small  gang  of  assassins,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  an  Italian,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Orsini,  had 


CALLKD   TO   THE  PRESIDENTIAL   CHAIR.  75 

nndertaken  to  do  the  work  of  the  slaveholders  by  mur- 
dering Mr.  Lincoln  as  he  passed  through  Baltimore. 

"  The  only  precaution  which  he  took  against  this  at- 
tack was  to  leave  Harrisburg  one  train  earlier  than  had 
been  expected.  He  thus  passed  through  Baltimore  in 
the  night,  and  arrived  in  Washington  on  the  morning  of 
Saturday,  the  23d  of  February,  where  his  safe  arrival 
was  greeted  with  joy  by  his  friends,  and  ill-concealed 
disappointment  by  his  enemies.  The  threats  against  his 
life  were  continued ;  and  but  for  the  watchfulness  and 
determination  of  his  friends,  and  the  care  and  military 
preparations  of  Gen.  Scott,  it  is  quite  probable  that  his 
inauguration  would  never  have  taken  place."  * 

A  correspondent  of  the  "  New-York  Herald "  thus 
narrates  the  occurrences  of  the  memorable  day :  — 

"  On  the  day  of  his  arrival  in  Washington  he  dined 
with  Mr.  Seward,  called  on  the  President ;  and  at  ten 
minutes  before  nine,  P.M.,  he  returned  to  his  hotel,  and 
was  received  by  an  enthusiastic  crowd,  who  greeted  him 
as  though  he  was  their  father  and  their  life.  Some  were 
old  men,  and  some  were  old  and  young  ladies.  They 
reflected  the  general  feeling,  that  in  Mr.  Lincoln  rests 
the  future  hope  of  the  Government  and  the  Union. 

"  Mr.  Lincoln  passed  through  the  long  parlor-hall, 
thronged  with  the  elite  and  fashion  of  the  national  me- 
tropolis, shaking  hands  as  fast  as  he  could  on  his  right 
and  left  with  the  ladies  and  gentlemen,  so  intensely  in- 
terested, that  he  forgot  even  to  take  his  hat  off,  which 
was  excused  by  a  looker-on,  who  remarked  that  it  was 
new,  and  outshined  the  crowd. 

"  At  nine  o'clock,  according  to  previous  arrangement, 
Mr.  Lincoln  received  the  Peace  Congress.  The  members 

*  Henry  J.  Raymond'*  "  Life  of  Lincoln,." 


76  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

formed  in  procession  in  the  hall  where  they  met,  and 
proceeded  to  the  reception  parlor.  Ex-Preside.at  Tyler, 
and  Governor  Chase  of  Ohio,  led  the  van.  The  latter 
introduced  Mr.  Tyler:  Mr.  Lincoln  received  him  with  all 
the  respect  due  to  his  position.  The  several  delegates 
were  then  presented  to  Mr.  Lincoln  by  Gov.  Chase  in 
the  usual  manner. 

"The  greatest  curiosity  was  manifested  to  uituesa 
Mr.  Lincoln's  first  reception  in  Washington.  The  most 
marvellous  thing  that  occurred  was  the  manifestation  by 
Mr.  Lincoln  of  a  most  wonderful  memory.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  the  convention  is  composed  of  many 
men,  who,  although  distinguished  in  their  time,  have  until 
very  lately  not  been  very  much  known.  Each  member 
was  introduced  by  his  last  name ;  but,  in  nine  cases  out 
of  ten,  Mr.  Lincoln  would  promptly  recall  their  entire 
name,  no  matter  how  many  initials  it  contained.  In  sev- 
eral instances  he  recited  the  historical  reminiscences  of 
families.  In  short,  he  understands  the  material  of  the 
Peace  Congress. 

"  When  the  tall  Gen.  Doniphan  of  Missouri  was  intro- 
duced, Mr.  Lincoln  had  to  look  up  to  catch  Doniphan's 
eye.  He  immediately  inquired,  '  Is  this  Doniphan,  who 
made  that  splendid  march  across  the  plains,  and  swept 
the  swift  Camanches  before  him?'  — '  I  commanded  the 
expedition  across  the  plains/  modestly  responded  the 
general. 

'"Then  you  have  come  up  to  the  standard  of  my  ex. 
pectations,'  rejoined  Mr.  Lincoln. 

"  After  the  reception  of  the  Peace  Congress  was  con- 
cluded, a  large  number  of  citizens  were  presented.  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  then  notified  that  the  ante-rooms  and  main 
parlors  of  the  hotel  were  filled  with  ladies  who  desired 
to  pay  their  respects ;  to  which  the  President-elect  very 


CALLED   TO   THE  PKESIDEXTIAL   CBA1K.  77 

promptly  consented.  The  ladies  then  passed  in  review, 
each  being  introduced  by  the  gentleman  who  accom- 
panied her.  Mr.  Lincoln  underwent  the  new  ordeal  with 
much  good  humor. 

"  At  ten  o'clock,  Mr.  Buchanan's  Cabinet  called,  and 
paid  their  respects,  in  response  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  coup  d'e- 
tat at  the  White  House  in  the  morning.  Their  recep- 
tion was  very  pleasant. 

"  It  may  be  truly  said  that  Mr.  Lincoln's  first  day  in 
Washington  as  President-elect  has  been  a  decided  suc- 
cess. Democrats  as  well  as  Republicans  are  pleased  with 
him ;  and  the  ladies,  who  thought  he  was  awkward  at 
first  sight,  changed  their  opinion,  and  now  declare  him 
'a  very  pleasant,  sociable  gentleman,  and  not  bad-looking 
by  any  means.' " 

The  4th  of  March,  1SG1,  arrived,  INAUGURATION  DAY. 
It  was  somewhat  cloudy  and  cool  in  the  morning,  but 
afterwards  seemed  like  May,  bright  and  genial. 

"  The  ceremonies  at  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
were  in  some  respects  the  most  brilliant  and  imposing 
ever  witnessed  at  Washington.  Nearly  twenty  well- 
drilled  military  companies  of  the  District,  comprising  a 
force  of  more  than  two  thousand  men,  were  on  parade. 
Georgetown  sent  companies  of  cavalry,  infantry,  and  ar- 
tillery, of  fine*"appearance.  The  troops  stationed  at  the 
City  Hall  and  Willard's  Hotel  became  objects  of  attrac- 
tion to  vast  numbers  of  botli  sexes.  At  noon  the  Senate 
Committee  called  upon  President  Buchanan,  who  pro- 
ceeded with  them  to  Willard's  Hotel  to  receive  the 
President-elect.  The  party  thus  composed,  joined  by 
other  distinguished  citizens,  then  proceeded  in  open 
carriages  along  the  avenue  at  a  moderate  pace,  with 
military  in  front  arid  rear,  and  thousands  of  private  citi- 
zens in  carriages,  on  horseback  and  on  foot,  crowding  the 


7fc  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

broad  street.  The  Capitol  was  readied  by  passing  up  on 
the  north  side  of  the  grounds,  and  the  party  entered  the 
building  by  the  northern  door  over  a  temporary  planked 
walk.  During  the  hour  and  a  half  previous  to  the  arrival 
of  President  Buchanan  and  the  President-elect  in  the 
Senate  Chamber,  that  hall  presented  a  gayer  spectacle 
than  ever  before.  The  usual  desks  of  the  senators  had 
been  removed,  and  concentric  lines  of  ornamented  chairs 
set  for  the  dignitaries  of  this  and  other  lands  with  which 
this  country  was  in  bonds  of  amity  and  friendship.  The 
inner  half-circle  on  the  extreme  left  was  occupied  by  the 
members  of  the  cabinety  of  Mr.  Buchanan  and  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, mingled  together,  and  farther  on  by  senators.  The 
concentric  circle  farther  back  was  filled  with  senators. 
The  next  half-circle  immediately  in  the  rear  of  that  occu- 
pied by  the  ministers  were  the  secretaries  and  attaches. 
The  half-circles  on  the  left,  corresponding  to  those  occu- 
pied by  the  corps  diplomatique,  furnished  places  for 
senators  and  governors  of  States  and  Territories.  Out- 
side of  all,  on  both  sides,  stood  —  for  there  was  no  further 
room  for  seats  —  the  members  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives and  chief  officers  of  the  executive  bureaus. 
The  galleries  all  round  the  Senate  were  occupied  by 
ladies. 

"  At  a  quarter-past  one  o'clock,  the  President  of  the 
t/nitbd  States  and  the  President-elect  entered  the  Sen- 
ate Chamber,  preceded  by  Senator  Foote  and  the  marshal 
of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  followed  by  Senators 
Baker  and  Pearce.  They  took  seats  immediately  in  front 
of  the  clerk's  desk,  facing  outward  ;  President  Buchanan 
having  the  Presidentelect  oa  his  right,  and  the  senators 
equally  distributed  right  and  k>ft. 

"  In  a  few  minutes,  Vice-Preb;dent  Ilamlin,  who  had 
oeen  previously  ^stalled,  ordered  the  reading  of  the 


CALL£D   TO   THE  PRESIDENTIAL   CtlAIR.  79 

order  of  procession  to  the  platform  on  the  east  of  the 
Capitol ;  and  the  line  was  formed,  the  Marshal  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  leading.  Then  followed  Chief  Justice 
Taney  and  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  Ser- 
geant-at-arms  of  the  Senate,  the  Committee  of  Arrange- 
ments of  the  Senate,  the  President  of  the  United  States 
and  the  President-elect,  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,  and  Senate,  the  nlembers  of  the  diplomatic 
corps,  governors  of  State  and  Territories,  and  members 
of  the  House  of  Representatives.  In  this  order  the 
procession  marched  to  the  platform  erected  in  the  usual 
position  over  the  main  steps  on  the  east  front  of  the 
Capitol,  where  a  temporary  covering  had  been  placed  to 
protect  the  President-elect  from  possible  rain  during  the 
reading  of  his  inaugural  address.  The  greater  part  of 
an  hour  was  occupied  in  seating  the  procession  on  the 
platform,  and  in  the  delivery  of  the  address  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, which  he  read  with  a  clear,  loud,  and  distinct  voice, 
quite  intelligible  to  at  least  ten  thousand  persons  below 
him.  At  the  close  of  the  address,  Mr.  Lincoln  took  the 
oath  of  office  from  the  venerable  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court.* 

"  After  the  ceremony  of  inauguration  had  been  com- 
pleted, the  President  and  Ex-President  retired  by  the 
same  avenue,  and  the  procession,  or  the  military  part  of 
it,  marched  to  the  executive  mansion.  On  arriving  at 
tho  President's  house,  Mr.  Lincoln  met  Gen.  Scott,  by 
whom  he  was  warmly  greeted  ;  and  then  the  doors  of  Jio 
house  were  opened,  and  thousands  of  persons  rapidly 
passed  through,  shaking  hands  with  the  President,  who 
stood  in  the  reception-room  for  that  purpose.  In  this 
simple  and  quiet  manner  was  a  change  of  rulers  made."  -f 

•  Chief  Justice  Taney  administered  this  oath  to  ten  successive  president*. 
f  "  Annual  Cyclopedia,"  1861. 


80 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 


And  thus  the  lowly-born  son  of  the  Western  pioneer  sat 
down  in  the  presidential  chair  of  a  great  Republic,  —  a 
seat  more  honorable  than  any  throne  on  earth.  The  con- 
trast between  his  humble  home  in  early  life  and  this 


WHITE  HOUSE,   D.  C. 

high  position  is  seen  in  the  sketch  thuvS  purposely  given 
of  the  imposing  ceremonies  of  inauguration.  Well  might 
the  eloquent  statesman*  add,  after  mentioning  Csesar, 
William  of  Orange,  and  Henry  IV.  of  France,  all  of 
whom  were  assassinated,  "  his  star  will  not  pale  by  the 
side  of  theirs.  .  .  .  Those  are  illustrious  names;  but 
there  is  nothing  in  them  which  can  eclipse  the  simple 
life  of  our  President,  whose  example  will  be  an  epoch  iiT 
the  history  of  humanity,  and  a  rebuke  to  every  usurper, 
to  be  commemorated  forever  by  history  and  by  song.  '  I 
called  thee  from  the  sheep-cot  to  be  ruler  over  Israel,' 
said  the  Lord  to  David ;  and  whoever  is  thus  called  is 
more  than  Csesar.  Such  an  appointment  was  his-;  and 
his  simple  devotion  to  human  rights  was  more  than 
genius  or  power." 

•  Hon.  Charles  Sumner. 


CHAPTER  V. 

TROUBLOUS     TIMES. 

"  We  wait  beneath  the  furnace  hlait 

Tlie  pangs  of  transformation  : 
Not  painlessly  doth  God  recast 
And  mould  anew  the  nation. 
Hot  burns  the  fire 
U'here  wrongs  expire  ; 
Nor  ppares  the  hand 
That  from  the  land 
L'proots  the  ancient  evil." 

WIMTTIER. 

"  I  am  for  peace ;  but,  when  I  speak,  they  are  for  war."  —  Ps.  cxx.  7. 

THE  "Quaker  drop"  showed  itself  in  the  inaugural 
address  of  the  new  President.  The  blood  of  a  pious  and 
peaceful  ancestry  coursed  along  the  veins  of  him  whom 
God  had  called  to  be  the  head  of  a  great  nation  in  its 
most  troublous  times :  with  a  prescience  belonging  to  that 
inheritance,  he  saw  the  gathering  cloud,  and  heard  the 
thunders  of  war.  Yet  he  would  fain  stay  the  glittering 
bolt  of  destiny,  and,  if  possible,  forbid  the  clashing  of 
c  ontecding  steel.  Hence  the  deprecatory  tone  of  his 
first  icaugural;  the  evident  desire  for  peace,  that  shone, 
like  the  golden  symbol  of  the  descending  SpiVit,  in  the 
illuminated  missals  of  other  days.  But  it  was  unavailing. 
The  soft  utterances  of  peace  were  drowned  in  the  noisy 
clamors  of  war ;  and  the  closing  paragraph  of  that  inaug- 
ural address  was,  even  more  than  its  author  knew,  the 
very  voice  of  prophecy.  Only  a  few  short  months,  and 
"  the  mystic  cords  of  memory  "  did  stretch  from  many  a 
M  battle-field  and  patriot  grave "  to  living  hearts  and 

si 


82  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

hearth-stones  all  over  our  broad  land ;  and  at  the  close 
of  the  mighty  conflict,  from  his  own  grave  —  the  grave 
of  a  martyr  —  was  to  cornea  voice  pleading  with  human- 
ity for  liberty  and  righteousness.  But  wo  will  not  antici- 
pate. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  first  act  was  to  choose  a  Cabinet.  This 
he  did  with  his  usual  discrimination;  and  though  the  lapse 
of  time  and  changing  course  of  events  led  to  changes  in 
the  Cabinet,  yet  none  are  willing  to  impeach  the  wisdom 
which  selected  the  first  set  of  Cabinet-officers.  For  the 
important  position  of  Secretary  of  State,  William  H. 
Seward  of  New  York  was  selected;  Salmon  P.  Chase  of 
Ohio  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Treasury  Department ; 
Simon  Cameron  of  Pennsylvania  became  Secretary  of 
War ;  Gideon  Welles  of  Connecticut,  Secretary  of  the  Na- 
vy ;  Caleb  B.  Smith  of  Indiana,  Secretary  of  the  In- 
terior ;  Montgomery  Blair  of  Maryland  was  appointed 
Postmaster-General ;  and  Edward  Bates  of  Missouri,  At- 
torney-General. 

As  every  reader  of  to-day  knows,  the  Southern  States 
manifested  a  rebellious  spirit  long  before  Lincoln  filled 
the  chair  of  Washington.  Had  the  imbecile  Buchanan 
but  possessed  the  old  Roman  spirit  of  one  of  his  prede- 
cessors, he  would  have  shown  that  he  had  a  "backbone," 
and  taken  a  Jacksonian  share  of  the  "  responsibility  " 
in  using  measures  that  would  have  crushed  the  viper  in 
the  egg.  But  the  pusillanimous  policy  adopted  just  suited 
the  "  letme-alone  "  theory  of  the  Southern  secessionists  ; 
and  so  the  infamous  Floyd  could  steal  our  arms,  and  the 
double-dyed  traitor,  Robert  E.  Lee,  could  linger  in  our 
ranks  till  he  had  possessed  himself  of  Gen.  Scott's 
plans,  and  then  desert  to  the  enemy,  thenceforth  to  use 
his  knowledge  in  an  effort  to  overthrow  the  best  Gov- 
ernment the  world  ever  saw,  and  place  a  man,  who  dis- 


TIMES.  83 

graced  the  name  of  a  former  President  of  our  Republic, 
on  a  throne,  the  corner-stone  of  whose  tottering  pedes- 
tal was  human  slavery.  And  thus  Buchanan  made  the 
way  rough  and  hard  for  Lincoln.  But  the  hour  and  the 
man  were  ready  for  each  other.  The  President  went 
calmly  forward.  "  Coming  to  the  presidency  pre-occupied 
by  the  traditional  theories  and  opinions  of  the  political 
school  in  which  he  was  educated,  he  devoted  himself 
with  a  purpose  single  and  exclusive  to  the  practical  in- 
terpretation of  events,  to  the  study  of  those  lessons 
taught  by  the  experience  through  which  the  country 
was  called  to  pass;  and  learning,  in  common  with  a 
majority  of  his  countrymen,  in  the  strifes  and  agonies 
of  the  Rebellion,  by  the  lurid  glare  of  the  fires  of  treason 
and  of  civil  war,  how  to  accommodate  opinion  to  the  al- 
tered relations  of  States,  interests,  and  sections  of  the 
people,  he  marched,  side  by  side  with  the  advancing 
hosts  of  the  best  and  most  discerning,  in  the  direction 
where  Divine  Providence  pointed  the  way."* 

Yet  he  could  not  conscientiously  counsel  war  at  first. 
His  inaugural  was  an  olive-branch  vainly  held  out  to 
hands  that  would  not  receive  it.  Then  came  a  pause 
after  its  utterance.  It  was  the  lull  before  the  storm  ; 
the  portentous  calm  that  precedes  the  burst  of  the  tor- 
nado. "  Since  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  struggle, 
no  man  had  seen  in  the  free  States  any  other  banner 
floating  over  a  regiment  of  our  people  than  the  stars  and 
stripes:  though  the  waves  of  party-spirit  had  often  run 
mountain-high,  and  we  had  seemed  just  on  the  brink  of 
disruption  and  civil  war,  yet  the  dreaded  collision  had 
always  been  somehow  averted,  and  the  moment  of  fiercest 
excitement,  of  wildest  alienation,  had  often  been  the  \m 

•  GOT.  Andrew's  AJdresi. 


84  AnnAIIA^f  LINCOLN. 

mediate  precursor  of  a  halcyon  era  of  reconciliation,  peace, 
and  fraternal  harmony.  It  was  not  easy  for  Northern 
men,  especially  those  who  never  visited  and  sojourned 
at  the  South,  to  comprehend  and  realize  the  wide  preva- 
lence and  intensity  of  anti-national  sentiment  and  feel- 
ing in  those  localities  whose  social  order,  industry  and 
business,  were  entirely  based  on  slavery.  Neither  envy- 
ing nor  hating  the  Southerners  while  lamenting  their 
delusions  and  restricting  their  exactions,  it  was  hard  in- 
deed for  many,  if  not  most,  of  the  citixens  of  the  free 
States  to  realize  that  we  stood  on  the  brink  of  a  volcano 
whose  rumbling  precluded  an  eruption  of  blood  as  well 
as  ashes."  * 

But  the  country  seemed  unprepared  for  war  in  every 
sense.  Jefferson  Davis  and  John  B.  Floyd  had  directed 
the  War  Department  for  eight  years  with  an  eye  to  South- 
ern supremacy.  Most  of  our  little  army  had  been  or- 
dered to  Texas,  where  it  was  placed  under  command  of 
the  rebel  general  Twiggs,  who  soon  betrayed  it  into  the 
hands  of  his  fellow-traitors.  Floyd  had  acted  the  part  of 
a  thief  in  transferring  arms  and  ammunition  from  North- 
ern to  Southern  arsenals  ;  and  the  larger  and  better 
portion  of  our  little  navy  had  been  scattered  over  dis- 
tant seas.  Now,  the  South  desired  to  gain  entire  pos- 
session of  the  forts  along  her  shores,  and  thus  obtain 
means  to  defy  the  North  when  it  would  collect  the  reve- 
nue that  it  should  receive  from  vessels  entering  South 
ern  ports.  This,  President  Lincoln  could  not  allow. 

Yet  he  was  slow  to  declare  war.  He  could  not,  until 
it  seemed  unavoidable,  imbrue  his  hands  in  a  brother's 
blood.  Hear  his  own  words  in  reference  to  the  Mexican 
War,  spoken  while  a  member  of  Congress  :  "  Now,  air, 

•  Greeley'*  "  History  of  the  American  Conflict,"  p.  429. 


TROUBLOUS   TIMES.  85 

for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  very  best  evidence  as 
to  whether  Texas  had  actually  carried  her  revolution  to 
the  place  where  the  hostilities  of  the  present  war  com- 
menced, let  the  President  answer  the  interrogations  I  pro- 
posed. Let  him  answer  fully,  fairly,  and  candidly.  Let 
him  answer  with/acfe,  not  with  arguments.  Let  him  re- 
member he  sits  where  Washington  sat;  and,  so  remember- 
ing, let  him  answer  as  Washington  would  answer.  As  a 
nation  should  not,  and  the  Almighty  will  not,  be  evaded, 
so  let  him  attempt  no  evasion,  no  equivocation.  .  .  .  But 
if  he  cannot  or  will  not  do  this ;  if,  on  any  pretence  or 
no  pretence,  he  shall  refuse  or  omit  it,  —  then  I  shall  be 
fully  convinced  of  what  I  more  than  suspect  already,  — 
that  he  is  deeply  conscious  of  being  in  the  wrong ;  that 
he  feels  the  blood  of  this  war,  like  the  bluod  of  Abel,  is 
crying  to  heaven  against  him  ;  that  he  ordered  Gen. 
Taylor  into  the  midst  of  a  peaceful  Mexican  settle- 
ment purposely  to  bring  on  a  war ;  .  .  .  and,  trusting  tc 
escape  scrutiny  by  fixing  the  public  gaze  upon  the  ex- 
ceeding brightness  of  military  glory, —  that  attractive 
rainbow  that  rises  in  showers  of  blood,  that  serpent's 
eye  that  charms  to  destroy,  —  he  plunged  into  it,  and 
has  swept  on  and  on,  till,  disappointed  in  his  calculation 
of  the  ease  with  which  Mexico  might  be  subdued,  he 
now  finds  himself  he  knows  not  where."  * 

Now  Lincoln  himself  sat  where  the  great  man  he  ven- 
erated once  sat;  and  he  felt  that  it  became  him  to  think 
calmly  and  soberly,  and  to  act  only  after  the  severest 
scrutiny  and  profoundest  deliberation,  and,  above  all,  not 
till  the  leadings  of  Divine  Providence  had  shown  him  the 
path  of  duty.  He  had  no  wish  to  emulate  Napoleon  or 
Alexander;  ro  desire  to  be  a  second  Cain.  Not  a  gleam 

*  "  President'*  Words,"  p.  20. 


86  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

of  military  glory  dazzled  his  peace-loving  eyes,  nor  did 
any  murderous  purpose  lurk  in  his  soul ;  and,  when  he 
finally  came  to  the  conclusion  that  war  was  inevita- 
ble, it  was  with  a  sadness  like  that  which  must  have 
wrapped  the  brow  of  Abraham  in  gloom  ere  he  offered 
up  his  beloved  Isaac ;  or  like  that  which  deepened  the 
lines  of  sorrow  and  bade  the  tears  glisten  on  His  face 
who  bowed  himself  over  Jerusalem,  mourning  the 
desolation  that  must  come  upon  her  for  her  disobedi- 
ence. 

Lincoln  was  no  party-man ;  or,  if  he  ever  had  been, 
the  exigencies  of  the  times,  or  rather  the  providence 
of  God,  which  was  preparing  him  for  those  times,  bade 
him  rise  above  mere  party-limits. 

When  he  had  borne  the  heavy  burdens  of  two  war- 
cursed  years,  his  language  was  that  of  a  wisdom  which 
showed  a  discrimination  based  on  integrity  of  purpose. 
Said  he  in  Ma}T,  1863,  with  characteristic  plainness  and 
accuracy  of  speech,  "  The  dissensions  between  Union 
men  in  Missouri  are  due  solely  to  a  factious  spirit  which 
is  exceedingly  reprehensible.  The  two  parties  ought  to 
have  their  heads  knocked  together.  Either  would  rather 
see  the  defeat  of  their  adversary  than  that  of  Jefferson 
Davis.  We  are  in  civil  war.  In  such  cases,  there  is 
always  a  main  question  ;  but,  in  this  case,  that  question 
is  a  perplexing  compound,  —  union  and  slavery.  It  be- 
comes a  question  not  of  two  sides  merely,  but  of  at  least 
four  sides,  even  among  those  who  are  for  the  Union,  say- 
ing nothing  of  those  who  are  against  it :  thus  those 
who  are  for  the  Union  with,  but  not  without,  slavery ; 
those  for  it  without,  but  not  with  •  those  for  it  with  or 
without,  but  prefer  it  with ;  and  those  for  it  with  or  with- 
out, but  prefer  it  without" 

And,  with  a  wisdom  which  could  only  have  come  from 


TROUBLOUS   flMES.  87 

above,  Lincoln  guided  the  Ship  of  State  month  after 
month,  year  after  after  year,  carefully  avoiding  Scylla 
on  the  one  hand,  andCharybdis  on  the  other.  Men  could 
not  always  see  this ;  and  more  than  one  sought  for  a  life- 
preserver,  deeming  shipwreck  inevitable.  But  though 
the  wild  waters  heaved  tumultuously,  and  the  huge 
breakers  lifted  their  crested  heads,  and  filled  the  ear  of 
every  listener  with  their  tremendous  voice,  "  deep  call- 
ing unto  deep  "  in  the  hour  of  our  nation's  dismay,  yet 
calmly  and  steadily  the  hand  of  God's  appointed  pilot 
grasped  the  helm ;  and  the  eye  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
glanced  only  from  the  needle  that  indicated  the  path  of 
justice,  to  the  star  that  rose  in  the  East,  and  heralded  the 
day  of  freedom. 

The  parricidal  hands  of  Southern  traitors  were  at  last 
raised  against  their  father-land  ;  and  at  "3.20,  A.M.,  of  the 
12th  of  April,  1861,  Major  Anderson  was  duly  notified 
that  fire  would  be  opened  on  Fort  Sumter  in  one  hour. 
Punctual  to  the  appointed  moment,  the  roar  of  a  mortar 
from  Sullivan's  Island,  quickly  followed  by  the  rustling 
shriek  of  a  shell,  gave  notice  to  the  world  that  the  era 
of  compromise  and  diplomacy  was  ended ;  that  the  slave- 
holders' confederacy  had  appealed  from  sterile  negotia- 
tions to  the  '  last  argument '  of  aristocracies  as  well  as 
kings.  Another  gun  from  that  island  quickly  repeated 
the  warning,  waking  a  response  from  battery  after  bat- 
tery, until  Sumter  appeared  the  focus  of  a  circle  of  vol- 
canic fire.  Soon  the  thunder  of  fifty  heavy  breach- 
ing-cannon,  in  one  grand  volley,  followed  by  the  crashing 
and  crumbling  of  brick,  stone,  and  mortar  around  and 
above  them,  apprised  the  little  garrison  that  their  stay 
in  those  quarters  must  necessarily  be  short."* 

And  reluctantly  the   brave   defenders  of   the   star- 

*  Greeley's  "  History." 


88  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

spangled  banner  were  compelled  to  surrender.  We  all 
know  the  story  of  Fort  Sumter.  Every  loyal  heart  ac- 
knowledged Major  Anderson  a  hero  and  a  patriot ;  and 
when,  on  Monday  morning,  April  15,  1861,  President 
Lincoln  issued  his  first  proclamation,*  calling  for  the 
country's  defenders,  there  camo  a  universal  "Amen  "  to 
the  call. 

"  '  COME  TO  THE  KESCUE!'     The  cry  went  .forth 
Through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  loyal  North; 
For  the  gun  that  startled  Sumter  heard 
Wakened  the  land  witli  its  fiery  word. 
The  farmer  paused  with  his  work  half  done, 
And  snatched  from  the  nail  his  rusty  gun; 
And  the  swart  mechanic  wiped  his  brow, 
Shouting,  '  There's  work  for  my  strong  arm  now  I ' 
And  the  parson  doffed  his  gown,  and  said, 
4  Bring  me  my  right  good  sword  instead ;  ' 
And  the  scholar  paused  in  his  eager  quest, 
And  buckled  his  belt  on  with  the  rest; 
And  each  and  all  to  the  rescue  went 
As  unto  a  royal  tournament: 
For  the  loyal  blood  of  a  nation  stirred 
To  the  gun  that  startled  Sumter  heard."  t 


Governors  and  legislatures  vied  with  each  other  in 
proffers  of  men  and  money  to  the  Government.  The 
Governor  of  Rhode  Island,  who  was  not  a  Republican, 
not  only  promptly  raised  the  quota  of  men  required,  but 
actually  led  it  to  Washington  and  to  the  battle-field. 
The  same  feeling  of  self-sacrificing  patriotism  nerved  the 
heart  and  arm  of  privates  as  well  as  officers.  "  Among 
tho  privates  in  Rhode  Island's  first  regiment  was  one 
worth  a  million  dollars,  who  destroyed  the  passage-ticket 
he  had  bought  for  a  voyage  to  Europe  on  a  tour  of  ol> 

•  Seo  Chapter  VTIL  f  Mrs.  Caroline  A.  Mason. 


TROUBLOUS   TIAfJfS.  89 

servation  and    pleasure,  to  shoulder  his  musket  in  de- 
fence of  his  country  and  her  laws."  * 

On  marched  the  loyal  soldiers  of  New  England  to  de- 
fend the  Capitol  of  their  country.  As  Guv.  Andrew 
said  to  the  Mayor  of  Baltimore,  "  Their  march  through 
New  York  was  triumphal."  But  "bloody  Baltimore" 
chose  to  re-enact  the  scenes  of  the  19th  of  April,  1778  ; 
and  on  the  19th  of  April,  1861,  — 

"  The  streets  our  soldier-fathers  trod 

Blushed  with  their  children's  gore: 
\Ve  saw  the  craven  rulers  nod, 
And  dip  in  blood  the  civic  rod. 
Shall  such  things  be,  0  righteous  Godl 

In  Baltimore?  "  f 

The  blood  of  Massachusetts  patriots  crimsoned  the 
stones  of  Baltimore  ;|  and  as  the  news  came  back  to  the 
New-England  States,  it  was  as  if  the  "fiery  cross"  had 
been  lighted,  and  passed  from  hand  to  hand,  calling  anew 
to  battle  the  clans  of  freemen  who  were  ready  to  rally 
for  liberty  and  law. 

Gen.  Butler  (Cceur  de  Lion),  with  the  dauntless 
Eighth  Massachusetts,  ably  seconded  by  the  New- York 
Seventh,  followed  in  the  sanguinary  wake  of  the  Sixth 

*  Greeley's  "  History,"  &c.  t  Bayard  Taylor. 

}  Their  death  called  forth  the  historic  telegram  from  Gov.  Andrew  to  Mayor 
Brown:  "  I  pray  you  to  cause  the  bodies  of  our  Massachusetts  soldiers,  dead  in 
Baltimore,  to  be  laid  out,  preserved  in  ice,  and  tenderly  sent  forward  by  ex- 
press to  me.  All  expenses  will  be  paid  by  the  Commonwealth."  Their  early 
martyrdom  in  the  dear  cause  of  Liberty  unsheathed  many  a  sword  that  else  had 
remained  in  its  scabbard,  and  awoke  the  music  of  many  a  poet's  lyre.  Said 
one  (Mary  Webb),  with  prophetic  utterance, — 

"  Peace  to  their  ashes  I  they  sleep  well,  — 
Our  Massachusetts  dead,  who  fell 
In  march  to  Freedom's  citadel; 
First-fruits  of  that  lull  vintage  i  «-d, 
Awaiting  War's  all-crushing  tr«-;iU; 
Our  owu,  our  JJas^achua  'Us  dead  I  " 


90  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Massachusetts,  whose  blood,  as  in  the  days  of  Revolu- 
tionary struggle,  was  the  first  to  be  shed  for  liberty  ; 
and  soon  the  Capitol  was  in  safety  from  the  threatening 
parricides  of  the  South.* 

But  the  first  blood  was  not  the  last ;  and  the  pride  of 
New-England  homes  was  mown  down  upon  many  a  bat- 
tle-field, as  we  all  know  too  well,  during  these  troublous 
times.  Ellsworth  and  Lyon  and  Baker  were  early  laid 
in  patriot-graves.  Bull  Run,  Ball's  Bluff,  Antietam,  Fred- 
ericksburg,  Gettysburg,  and  many  a  battle-field  besides, 
call  up  the  memories  of  the  loved  and  lost,  who  bravely 
gave  their  lives  for  their  country :  we  think  of  gallant 
Dix  who  died  exclaiming,  "  The  Iowa  Third  never  sur- 
renders ! "  of  the  brave  young  captain  Derby,  who  led 
his  men  undauntedly,  till  he  — 

"  By  the  wayside  fell  and  perished ;  " 

of  the  heroic  chaplain  Fuller,  who  felt  that  he  "  must 
do  something  for  his  country,"  and  shouldered  a  musket 
in  her  defence  :  we  think  of  many,  many  brave,  true 
hearts  that  throb  no  more  on  earth,  —  all  fallen  victims 
to  the  relentless  war  which  has  scourged  our  nation  into 
a  repentance  of  its  vilest  sin ;  and  we  feel  as  if  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  needed  to  have  "  the  spirit  of  wisdom,  and 
counsel,  and  of  ghostly  strength  "  given  to  him,  almost 
"  without  measure,"  that  he  might  know  how  to  deal 
with  the  various  problems  which  came  up  to  be  solved 
by  him.  Gen.  Butler  aided  to  solve  one,  when  he  pro- 
nounced the  slaves  of  the  rebels  "  contraband  of  war." 
Our  arms  knew  victory,  and  knew  also  disaster.  It 

*  While  our  country  had  a  Judas  in  the  person  of  every  rebel  chief,  it  was 
not  without  its  Peter.  "  An  officer  who  called  at  the  White  House  during  the 
dark  dajs  when  Washington  was  isolated,  and  threatened  from  every  side,  and 
mid  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  '  Every  one  else  may  desert  you,  but  I  never  will,'  two 
days  after  absconded,  and  b^aa  eft*-^-*  a  Confederate  major-geueraL" 


TROUBLOUS    TIMES.  91 

was  doubtless  well  that  we  had  some  reverses,  or  we 
should  have  been  too  confident,  and  less  careful  about 
purging  the  nation  from  its  gross  iniquity.  Slowly  the 
wheels  of  time  rolled  on ;  and  as  slowly,  but  as  surely 
also,  travelled  the  President  in  his  ideas  of  what  was 
his  duty  and  that  of  the  nation.  Some  thought  him  an 
u  old  fogy ;  "  some  were  ready  to  label  him  as  a  fossil, 
and  put  him  on  the  shelf.  One  sneeringly  said  he  was 
"  not  to  be  blamed  for  incapacity  ;  "  but,  unmoved  by 
slights  or  frowns  or  jeers,  the  man  of  the  people  sought 
to  benefit  the  people,  and  do  the  work  that  God  had  given 
him  to  do.  Mistakes  he  might  make,  for  he  was  human  ; 
but  none  that  were  irretrievable.  Mordecai  asked  Esther, 
"Who  knoweth  whether  thou  art  come  to  the  kingdom  for 
such  a  time  as  this  ?  "  And  the  same  might  have  been 
a^ked  of  our  late  President,  sure  that  the  answer  would 
indicate  a  willingness  to  "  spend  and  be  spent ''  in  the 
discharge  of  duty. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE   COURSE    PURSUED. 

"  Stand  by  the  flag,  all  doubt  and  treason  scorning  •. 

Believe,  with  courage  firm  and  faitli  sublime, 
That  it  will  float  until  the  Eternal  Morning 
Pales  with  its  glories  all  the  lights  of  Time." 

"  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  God  is  upon  me,  because  the  Lord  hath  anointed 
me  to  preach  good  tidings  unto  the  meek:  he  hath  sent  me  to  bind  up  the  broken- 
hearted, to  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them 
that  are  bound."  —  ISA.  Ixi.  1. 

THE  years  went  on.  Once  more  our  nation  knew  by 
bitter  personal  experience  the  meaning  of  the  phrase, — 
"Times  that  tried  men's  souls."  President  Lincoln 
marched  abreast  of  the  times,  perhaps,  not  infrequently, 
cautious  about  being  far  in  advance. 

This  volume  is  not  intended  to  be  a  history  of  the 
war,  or  even  a  record  of  all  the  acts  of  the  President  in 
regard  to  the  war;  for  then  it  must  exceed  the  designed 
limits:  but  it  may  give  brief  hints  of  the  course  pur- 
sued; not  a  panorama  of  the  whole  path,  but  stereo- 
scopic views,  it  may  be,  here  and  there. 

It  was  no  easy  thing  to  conduct  the  civil  war  which 
was  inaugurated  in  1861  to  its  triumphal  close  in  1865. 
But  God  was  alike  with  the  nation  which  was  in  the 
caldron,  and  the  man  who,  in  one  sense,  bore  the  bur- 
den of  that  nation's  woes. 

As  Bancroft,  our  great  historian,  has  said,  after  refer- 
ring to  the  uprising  of  the  loyal  North,  "In  some  re- 
spects Abraham  Lincoln  was  peculiarly  fitted  for  his  task, 
in  connection  with  the  movement  of  his  countrymen. 

M 


Tttn  co  ens K  rtrnstTBD.  93 

He  was  of  the  North-west;  and  this  time  it  was  the 
Mississippi  River,  the  needed  outlet  for  the  wealth  of 
the  North-west,  that  did  its  part  in  asserting  the  neces- 
sity of  the  Union.  He  was  one  of  the  mass  of  the 
people  ;  he  represented  them  because  he  was  of  them  ; 
and  the  mass  of  the  people,  the  class  that  lives  and 
thrives  by  self-imposed  labor,  felt  that  the  work  which 
was  to  be  done  was  a  work  of  their  own, —  the  assertion 
of  equality  against  the  pride  of  oligarchy ;  of  free  labor 
against  the  lordship  over  slaves  ;  of  the  great  industrial 
people  against  all  the  expiring  aristocracies  of  which 
any  remnants  had  tided  down  from  the  middle  ages. 
Tie  was  of  a  religious  turn  of  mind,  without  superstition  ; 
and  the  unbroken  faith  of  the  mass  was  like  his  own. 
As  he  went  along  through  his  difficult  journey,  sounding 
his  way,  he  held  fast  by  the  hand  of  the  people,  and 
'  tracked  his  footsteps  with  even  feet.'  '  His  pulse's  beat 
twined  with  their  pulses.'  "* 

The  war  was,  as  we  have  said,  a  necessity,  which  the 
President  accepted  because  he  could  not  do  otherwise. 
It  was  "  majestic,  resistless,  as  when  God  flings  out  the 
banner  of  the  storm,  and  bids  it  move.  It  swept  on.  No 
man  guided  it,  no  man  could  foretell  its  duration  or  its 
issues.  So  tumultuous  and  perplexed  were  the  move- 
ments, that  the  avowed  and  wise  policy  of  the  President 
was  to  have  no  policy,  but  simply  an  end  sought  as 
wisdom  might  be  given  moment  by  moment.  It  came 
to  this,  that  all  that  men  knew  was  that  there  was  noth- 
ing to  do  but  to  fight  on.  And  they  did  fight.  And  oh 
the  ngony  of  those  days  !  '  We  waited  for  light,  but,  be- 
hold, obscurity  ;  for  brightness,  but  we  walked  in  dark- 
ness.' We  cried  out, '  0  thou  sword  of  the  Lord  !  how 

•  "  Atlantic  Monthly,"  June,  1866. 


94  ABRAHAM  LIXCOLIT. 

long  will  it  be  ere  them  be  quiet  ?  Put  thyself  up  into 
thy  scabbard ;  rest,  and  be  still.'  But  the  voice  came, 
'  How  can  it  be  quiet,  seeing  the  Lord  hath  given  it  a 
charge  ? '  And  what  that  charge  was,  those  who  watched 
began,  after  a  time,  to  discover.  It  was  first  to  lift  the 
negro  up  into  manhood  by  bringing  him  into  line  with 
the  white  man  in  fighting  the  battles  of  freedom.  We 
all  know  how  this  was  resisted  and  scoffed  at.  It  could 
not  be.  But  the  pressure  did  not  lift;  it  waxed  heavier 
and  heavier ;  and  it  was  done.  The  negro  fought  and 
was  welcomed.  A  second  charge  was  to  make  the  Proc- 
lamation of  Emancipation,  ridiculed  as  the  Pope's  bull 
against  the  comet,  to  make  that  as  the  breath  of  the  Al- 
mighty to  sweep  away  slavery.  That  was  done.  Again 
the  charge  was  to  bring  the  South,  the  chivalry,  to  recog- 
nize by  public  act  the  manhood  of  the  negro  by  making 
him  a  soldier,  and  by  confessing  the  dependence  of 
their  cause  upon  him.  This  was  all :  it  was  enough. 
When  this  was  done,  the  war  ceased."  * 

The  course  pursued  by  the  President  Avas  just  such 
as  to  secure  the  results  above  mentioned.  He  was  em- 
phatically the  "  right  man  in  the  right  place."  Gov. 
Andrew  has  so  well  described  the  man  and  his  course  in 
regard  to  the  affairs  of  the  nation,  that  no  other  words 
seem  needed.  lie  says  of  the  President,  "  He  had  the 
rare  gift  of  discerning  and  setting  aside  whatevei  is  ex- 
traneous and  accidental,  and  of  simplifying  an  inquiry 
or  an  argument  by  just  discriminations.  The  purpose 
of  his  mind  waited  for  the  instruction  of  his  deliberate 
judgment;  and  he  was  never  ashamed  to  hesitate  until 
he  was  sure  it  was  intelligently  formed.  Not  greatly  gift 
ed  in  what  is  called  the  intuition  of  reason,  he  was,  never- 

*  Rev.  Mark  Hopkins,  D.D.,  President  of  Williams  College,  in  n  sermon  on 
"Providence  and  Revelation,"  before  tlie  graduating  class  of  1666. 


covnsK  punsUBD.  95 

theless,  of  so  honest  an  intellect,  that,  by  the  processes 
of  methodical  reasoning,  he  was  often  led  so  directly 
to  his  result,  that  he  occasionally  seemed  to  rise  into  that 
peculiar  sphere  which  we  assign  to  those  who  by  origi- 
nal constitution  are  natural  leaders  among  men.  Not  by 
nature  a  leader,  neither  was  he  by  nature  a  follower ; 
and  by  force  of  his  rare  union  ai_d  balance  of  certain 
qualities,  both  intellectual  and  moral,  he  was  enabled  to 
rise  to  the  dignity  of  master  of  his  own  position  in  a 
place  exacting  and  difficult  almost  beyond  the  prece- 
dents of  history.  Educated  wholly  as  a  civilian,  his 
fame  will  be  forever  associated  with  his  administration 
of  public  affairs  in  a  civil  war,  unexampled  in  its  pro- 
portions, and  conducted  on  his  own  side  with  such  suc- 
cess as  to  command  his  own  re-election  by  the  free  will 
of  a  free  people.  .  .  .  Possessed  of  a  will  of  unusual 
firmness  and  tenacity,  his  heart  was  placable,  humane, 
and  tender.  He  exerted  powers  the  most  extensive  and 
various,  stretching  into  that  undefined  and  dangerous, 
region  of  administrative  jurisprudence,  where  the  rights 
and  duties  of  military  commander-in-chief  limit  and 
merge  into  themselves  the  functions  of  the  civil  magis- 
trate, and  even  of  the  judicial  tribunal.  And  yet,  if  we 
should  concede  to  his  enemies  all  that  disappointed  ani- 
mosity and  defeated  disloyalty  have  been  able  to  allege 
against  him,  we  should  still  be  able  to  challenge  all  hu- 
man history  to  produce  the  name  of  a  ruler  more  just, 
unselfibh  or  unresentful.  Cheerful,  patient,  and  without 
egotism,  he  regarded  and  treated  himself  as  the  servant 
of  the  people,  using  his  powers  only  for  their  cause ; 
using  no  more  than  the  cause  seemed  clearly  to  demand, 
and  using  them  alike  without  passion  and  without  per- 
turbation. 
"  It  were  premature  for  us  to  assert  how,  or  how  far, 


96  A6HA&AM  LINCOLN. 

during  the  four  years  of  his  administration,  he  led  the 
American  people.  The  unfolding  of  events  in  the  his- 
tory we  are  yet  to  enact  will  alone  determine  the  limits 
of  such  influence;  It  is  enough  for  his  immortal  glory 
that  he  faithfully  represented  this  people,  their  confidence 
in  democratic  government,  their  constancy  in  the  hour 
of  adversity,  and  their  magnanimity  in  the  hour  of 
triumph." 

Yet  whether  fully  acknowledged  as  a  leader  by  all,  or 
not,  Al  raham  Lincoln  was  truly  great,  and  his  course  one 
of  profoundest  wisdom.  He  was  "  great  in  clearness  of 
thought,  great  in  calm  deliberation,  great  in  earnestness, 
in  unaffectedness,  in  unselfish  devotion  to  duty.  .  .  . 

"Raised  moderately  to  the  station  which  Washington 
was  the  first  to  fill,  his  sudden  elevation  sent  a  pang  to 
the  hearts  of  many,  as  though  a  sad  degeneracy  had 
fallen  on  our  times;  while  others  shuddered  at  the  un« 
equalness  of  the  man  for  the  most  critical  position  which 
had  yet  arisen  in  American  affairs. 

"  Four  years  have  so  changed  all  this,  that  his  name  is 
universally  revered  ;  the  great  qualities  which  he  really 
possessed,  his  knowledge  of  men,  his  uprightness  and 
honesty,  his  kindness  of  heart,  his  extreme  caution  in  the 
unnumlsred  difficulties  that  daily  arose  in  the  constant 
civil  and  military  emergencies,  with  a  firmness  that  was 
never  swerved  by  flattery  or  fear, —  all  these,  and  the 
great  results  effected  under  his  administration,  have 
given  him  in  the  heart  of  the  people  a  place  second  only 
to  that  of  the  father  of  his  country."  * 

Not  always  did  the  President  find  a  hearty  co-opera- 
tion in  his  plans,  or  a  rightful  appreciation  of  his  course. 
We  can  see  the  straightforward,  positive,  yet  peaceful 

*  "  Lincoln  Memorial." 


THE   COURSE  PURSUED.  97 

character  of  the  man  in  his  words  to  some  such  cavillers. 
Said  he,  in  August,  1863,  — 

"  To  those  who  are  dissatisfied  with  me,  I  would  say, 
You  desired  peace,  and  you  blame  me  that  we  do  not 
have  it.  But  how  can  we  attain  it?  There  are  but 
three  conceivable  ways.  First,  to  suppress  the  Rebellion 
by  force  of  arms.  This  I  am  trying  to  do.  Are  you  for 
it  ?  If  you  are,  so  far  we  are  agreed.  If  you  are  not  for 
it,  a  second  way  is  to  give  up  the  Union.  I  am  against 
this.  Are  you  for  it?  If  you  are,  you  should  say  so 
plainly.  If  you  are  not  for  force,  nor  yet  for  dissolution, 
there  only  remains  some  imaginable  compromise." 

And  as  to  compromise,  he  could  only  say,  "  I  do  not 
believe  that  any  compromise,  embracing  the  maintenance 
of  the  Union,  is  now  possible.  All  that  I  learn  tends  to 
a  directly  opposite  belief.  The  strength  of  the  Rebellion 
is  its  military, — its  army.  In  any  compromise,  we  should 
waste  time,  which  the  enemy  would  improve  to  our  dis- 
advantage ;  and  that  would  be  all." 

Again  :  in  reference  to  his  course,  he  uttered,  not  an 
apology,  but  words  of  manly  defence,  saying,  in  April, 
1864,  "Was  it  possible  to  lose  the  nation,  and  yet  pre- 
serve the  Constitution?  By  general  law,  life  and  limb 
must  be  protected :  yet  often  a  limb  must  be  amputated  to 
save  a  life  ;  but  a  life  is  never  wisely  given  to  save  a 
limb.  I  felt  that  measures  otherwise  unconstitutional 
might  become  lawful  by  becoming  indispensable  to  the 
preservation  of  the  nation.  Right  or  wrong,  I  assumed 
this  ground,  and  now  avow  it.  I  could  not  feel,  that,  to 
the  best  of  my  ability,  I  had  ever  tried  to  preserve  the 
Constitution,  if,  to  save  slavery  or  any  minor  matter,  I 
should  permit  the  wreck  of  Government,  Country,  and 
Constitution  altogether." 

It  was  not  his  party,  it  was  not  himself,  but  it  was  hi* 


98  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

country,  for  which  he  labored.  The  course  he  pursued 
while  President  had  only  the  good  of  the  united  whole 
in  view.  Hence,  on  one  occasion,  he  advised  that  all 
work  together  for  the  nation's  good,  in  these  words :  — 

"  Let  the  nation  take  hold  of  the  larger  works,  and  the 
States  the  smaller  ones  ;  and  thus,  working  in  a  meeting 
direction,  discreetly,  but  steadily  and  firmly,  what  is  made 
unequal  in  one  place  may  be  equalized  in  another,  ex- 
travagance avoided,  and  the  whole  country  put  on  that 
career  of  prosperity  which  shall  correspond  with  its  ex- 
tent of  territory,  its  natural  resources,  and  the  intelligence 
and  enterprise  of  its  people." 

Hear  the  words  of  the  senator  whose  personal  wounds 
from  the  minions  of  slavery  give  him  the  right  to  be 
known  as  Liberty's  champion.  What  says  he  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  in  the  troublous  times,  and  of  the  course  he 
pursued  ?  This  :  — 

"  He  was  placed  by  Providence  at  the  head  of  his 
country  during  an  unprecedented  crisis,  when  the  foun- 
tains of  the  great  deep  were  broken  up,  and  men  turned 
for  protection  to  military  power.  Multitudinous  armies 
were  mustered.  Great  navies  were  set  on  foot.  Of  all 
these  he  was  the  constitutional  commander-in-chief.  As 
the  war  proceeded,  all  his  prerogatives  enlarged,  and 
others  sprang  into  being,  until  the  sway  of  a  Republican 
President  became  irnperatorial  and  imperial.  But  not 
for  one  moment  did  the  modesty  of  his  nature  desert  him. 
His  constant  thought  was  his  country,  and  how  to  serve 
it.  Personal  ambition  at  the  expense  of  patriotism  was 
as  far  removed  from  the  simple  purity  of  his  nature  as 
poison  from  a  strawberry.  And  thus  with  equal  cour- 
age in  the  darkest  hour  he  continued  on,  heeding  as 
little  the  warnings  of  danger  as  the  temptations  of  power. 
'  It  would  not  do  for  a  President,'  he  said, '  to  have  guards 


TBK  COURSS  PURSUED.  99 

with  drawn  sabres  at  his  door,  as  if  he  fancied  he  were, 
or  were  trying  to  be,  or  were  assuming  to  be,  an  emperor.' 
And  in  the  same  simplicity,  he  spoke  of  his  return  at 
morning  to  his  daily  duties  as  '  opening  shop.' 

"  When  he  became  President,  he  was  without  any  con- 
siderable experience  in  public  affairs  ;  nor  was  he  much 
versed  in  history,  whose  lessons  would  have  been  most 
valuable.  As  he  became  more  familiar  with  the  place, 
his  facility  evidently  increased.  He  had  *  learned  the 
ropes,'  so  he  said.  But  his  habits  of  business  were 
irregular,  and  they  were  never  those  of  despatch.  He 
did  not  see  at  once  the  just  proportions  of  things,  and 
allowed  himself  to  be  too  much  occupied  by  details. 
Even  in  small  things,  as  well  as  in  great,  there  was  in 
him  a  certain  resistance  to  be  overcome.  There  were 
moments  when  this  delay  caused  impatience,  and  im- 
portant questions  seemed  to  suffer.  But,  when  the  blow 
was  struck,  there  was  nothing  but  gratitude;  and  all  con- 
fessed the  singleness  with  which  he  had  sought  the 
public  good.  There  was  also  a  conviction,  that,  though 
slow  to  reach  his  conclusion,  he  was  inflexible  in  main- 
taining it.  Pompey  boasted  that  by  the  stamp  of  his 
foot  he  might  raise  an  army.  The  President  might  have 
done  the  same  ;  but,  according  to  his  own  words,  he  '  put 
his  foot  down,'  and  saved  a  principle." 

Let  it  be  remembered  evermore  that  the  course  of 
events  beyond  his  control,  and  the  course  he  pursued 
when  the  power  was  in  his  hands  for  a  season,  both 
culminated  in  the  triumph  of  freedom  in  our  liberty 
boasting  land.  In  a  letter  dated  April  4, 1864,  President 
Lincoln  declared,  "  If  slavery  is  not  wrong,  nothing  is 
wrong ;  "  and  as  an  English  divine  has  well  said, — 

"  This  wrong  of  slavery,  he,  more  than  any  other  man 
of  our  diy,  has  been  instrumental  in  removing.  It  was 


100  AJiRABAM  LINCOLN. 

his  well-known  hostility  to  it,  which,  on  his  election,  was 
the  proximate  and  avowed  cause  of  the  Rebellion.  As 
far  as  his  pledges  to  the  law  and  the  course  of  events 
permitted,  he  steadily  pursued  this  great  object.  Under 
his  auspices,  slavery  was  speedly  abolished  in  Columbia, 
and  prohibited  in  the  Territories.  The  slave-trade  was 
declared  penal,  and  the  right  of  search  fully  granted. 
The  loyal  States  were  invited  to  emancipate  their  slaves, 
full  compensation  being  offered.  Then  the  proclamation 
was  issued  by  which  all  slaves  in  rebel  States  were  de- 
clared free  ;  and  though,  for  a  season,  this  was  inoperative 
over  a  large  district,  it  is  now  not  only  law,  but  fact. 
During  the  war,  two  millions  of  slaves  actually  gained 
their  freedom,  and  were  protected  wherever  the  power 
of  the  President  extended.  And  now  throughout  those 
Southern  States,  long  a  house  of  cruel  bondage,  the 
jubilee  trumpet  is  sounding  deliverance  to  the  captive, 
and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them  that  are  bound." 

The  President  was  not  only  nominally  the  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  Union  forces,  but  he  assumed  active  com- 
mand, and  gave  evidence  of  his  independence  and  fear- 
lessness in  the  discharge  of  duty  by  promulgating  three 
important  military  orders,  —  ordering  a  general  and  com- 
bined movement  of  the  forces  on  land  and  sea,  requiring 
that  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  be  organized  into  corps ; 
confining  Gen.  McClellan  to  the  command  of  the  De- 
partment of  the  Potomac ;  and  organizing  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Mountain  Department. 

This  was  in  March,  1862.  On  the  19th  of  the  previous 
month,  he  had  issued  a  proclamation  requesting  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  to  assemble  on  the  anniversary 
of  Washington's  birth,  and  celebrate  the  day  by  reading 
the  memorable  "Farewell  Address."  This  was  done  in 
almost  every  town  and  city  of  the  loyal  States. 


THE   COURSE  PURSUED.  101 

ID  July,  1862,  the  President  conferred  with  the  loyal 
governors,  and  yielded  to  their  desire  that  more  men 
should  be  summoned  to  the  defence  of  the  country. 
The  senators  and  representatives  of  the  border  States 
were  at  this  time  invited  to  a  personal  conference  ;  ami 
the  President  talked  freely  with  them  in  regard  to  grad- 
ual emancipation,  reading  to  them  a  letter  which  he  had 
prepared,  in  which  he  stated  his  views  explicitly,  and 
closed  it  with  the  following  eloquent  appeal  :  "  You  are 
patriots  and  statesmen  ;  and,  as  such,  I  pray  you  con- 
sider this  proposition,  and,  at  the  least,  commend  it  to 
the  consideration  of  your  States  and  people.  As  you 
would  perpetuate  popular  government  for  the  best  peo- 
ple in  the  world,  I  beseech  you  that  you  do  in  no  wise 
omit  this.  Our  common  country  is  in  great  peril,  de- 
manding the  loftiest  views  and  boldest  action  to  bring  a 
speedy  relief.  Once  relieved,  its  form  of  government 
is  saved  to  the  world,  its  beloved  history  and  cherished 
memories  are  vindicated,  and  its  happy  future  fully  as- 
sured, and  rendered  inconceivably  grand.  To  you,  more 
than  to  any  others,  the  privilege  is  given  to  assure  that 
happiness  and  swell  that  grandeur,  and  to  link  your  own 
names  therewith  forever." 

An  able  article  in  the  leading  Review*  of  our  land 
expatiates  upon  the  progress  of  the  country  towards  an 
acknowledgment  of  freedom  and  equality  fur  all,  without 
distinction  of  color,  and  says,  — 

"  While  every  day  was  bringing  the  people  nearer  to 
the  conclusion  which  all  thinking  men  saw  to  be  inevita- 
ble from  the  beginning,  it  was  wife  in  Mr.  Lincoln  to 
leave  the  shaping  of  his  policy  to  events.  In  this  coun- 
try, where  the  rough  and  ready  understanding  of  tho 


"  North-American  Review  "  for  January, 


102  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

people  ia  sure  at  last  to  be  the  controlling  power,  a  pro- 
found common  sense  is  the  best  genius  for  statemanship. 
Hitherto  the  wisdom  of  the  President's  measures  has 
been  justified  by  the  fact  that  they  have  always  resulted 
in  more  firmly  uniting  public  opinion." 

It  is  manifestly  evident  to  candid  minds  that  slavery 
was  the  cause  of  our  troublous  times,  and  that  the  course 
pursued  by  the  President,  under  divine  direction,  was 
such  as  to  overthrow  slavery,  and  thus  secure  peace. 
There  could  be  no  permanent  peace  or  prosperity  with 
that  accursed  system  among  us,  which  the  great  Metho- 
dist, John  Wesley,  declared  to  be  "  the  sum  of  all  vil- 
lanies." 

President  Hopkins,  of  Williams  College,  has  summed 
up  the  proofs  of  the  direful  effects  of  slavery  in  the  fol- 
lowing words :  — 

"  Slavery  may  stand  as  the  type  and  culmination  of  alJ 
oppressive  systems,  and  the  testimony  consists  in  a  mani- 
festation of  its  legitimate  and  matured  fruits. 

"  Till  our  armies  went  South,  and  Southern  prisoners 
came  North,  there  was  but  a  slight  impression  among  us 
of  the  general  ignorance  under  such  a  system ;  of  the 
number  who  ccoild  not  read,  or  sign  their  names.  But 
for  this  ignorance,  there  could  have  been  no  rebellion. 
There  had  been  no  adequate  conception  of  the  want  of 
thrift  and  general  behind-handedness,  nor  of  the  per- 
vading spirit  at  once  of  license  and  of  despotism.  What 
were  called  the  abuses  of  the  system  were  more  frequent 
and  foul  than  had  been  supposed.  But  these  are  little 
compared  with  the  spirit  of  the  system  as  revealed, — 
first  by  atrocities  in  the  treatment  of  Southern  Union 
men,  net  exceeded  by  any  thing  in  the  Sepoy  Rebellion  ; 
second  by  the  massacre  at  Fort  Pillow,  intended  to  be 
the  inauguration  of  a  policy  ;  third  by  the  preparations 
tp  blow  up  Libby  Prison  :  fourth  by  the  Deliberate,  sys- 


THE   COURSE  PURSUED.  10? 

tematic,  long-continued  exposure,  neglect,  and  starvation 
of  Union  prisoners ;  and,  finally,  by  the  assassination  of 
the  President.  These  things  we  do  not  charge  to  all 
the  people  of  the  South.  They  are  like  other  men.  Many 
are  better  than  their  system  :  but  we  do  charge  them 
to  the  spirit  of  the  system ;  and  we  say,  that  by  these 
exposures  and  revelations,  culminating  as  they  did  in  a 
way  to  send  a  thrill  of  horror  through  the  civilized  world, 
God  has  pilloried  the  system  before  the  nations,  and  all 
that  has  affinity  with  it. 

"  That  there  were  atrocities  on  our  side  we  do  not  deny. 
They  are  incident  to  war.  But  we  do  deny  any  thing  that 
can  be  at  all  an  offset  to  such  a  record.  It  is  to  be  said 
further  on  the  part  of  the  North,  that  the  war  was  car- 
ried on  here  chiefly  without  proscription ;  and  that,  in 
connection  with  it,  there  were  the  Sanitary  and  Christian 
Commissions  that  furnished  by  voluntary  contribution 
millions  for  the  aid  of  wounded  and  sick  soldiers,  to  be 
applied  equally,  so  far  as  might  be,  to  friend  and  foe. 
Any  thing  like  these,  in  connection  with  war,  no  insti- 
tutions or  form  of  government  had  ever  before  de- 
veloped." 

We  of  the  North  could  not,  then,  be  accused  of  bar- 
barism further  than  war  necessarily  involves.  We  fought 
under  a  coinmander-in-chief  whose  heart  was  as  tender 
as  a  father  toward  his  soldiers,  and  who  was  as  lenient 
towards  his  enemies  as  He  could  desire  who  said,  "  Bless 
them  that  curse  you."  But  he  was  a  magistrate,  and  it 
was  not  for  him  to  "  bear  the  sword  in  vain." 

God  knew  the  heart  of  our  beloved  Lincoln ;  and  He, 
who  prepared  him  for  the  glorious  work  before  him,  un- 
doubtedly approved  of  the  course  he  pursued  while  the 
country  of  his  patriot  love  was  writhing  like  a  second 
l^aocoon  in  the  terrible  folds  of  the  serpent  Treason. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PECULIAR      TRIALS. 

"  Trials  make  the  promise  sweet, 
Trials  give  new  life  to  prayer, 
Bring  me  to  my  Saviour's  feet, 
Lay  me  low,  and  keep  me  there." 

*  These  are  they  that  came  up  out  of  great  tribulation,  and  have  washed  theli 
robes,  and  marie  them  white  iu  the  blood  of  the  Lamb."  —  REV.  vii.  14. 

ALL  great  and  noble  natures  have  their  great  and  pe- 
culiar trials ;  and  no  name  stands  on  the  heights  of  his- 
tory, as  a  beacon  for  the  nations,  which  has  not  been 
fitted  for  its  position  by  trial  and  suffering.  One  far- 
seeing  woman  of  our  land  has  said,  "  Whatever  is  high- 
est and  holiest  is  tinged  with  melancholy.  The  eye  of 
genius  has  always  a  plaintive  expression,  and  its  natural 
language  is  pathos.  A  prophet  is  sadder  than  other 
men ;  and  He  who  was  greater  than  all  prophets  was  a 
man  of  sorrows,  and  acquainted  with  grief. "  *  And 
another,  whose  own  experience  has  taught  her  the  taste 
of  Marah's  waters,  and  whose  "Uncle  Tom"  was  the 
creature  of  her  sympathy  with  sorrow,  as  well  as  the 
truthful  exponent  of  the  woes  of  slavery,  has  said,  with 
the  force  of  highest  wisdom,  "  Sorrow  is  the  great  birth- 
agony  of  immortal  powers  ;  sorrow  is  the  great  searcher 
and  revealer  of  hearts,  the  great  test  of  truth  ;  .  .  .  sor- 
row reveals  forces  in  ourselves  of  which  we  never 
dreamed ;  .  .  .  sorrow  is  divine.  Sorrow  is  reigning  o» 

*  Mrs.  Lydia  Maria  Child- 


PECULIAR    TRIALS.  105 

the  throne  of  the  universe,  and  the  crown  of  all  crowns 
has  been  one  of  thorns."  * 

It  is  evident  that  the  ministry  of  sorrow  to  the  human 
soul  is  one  which  elevates,  strengthens,  purifies.  It  is 
among  the  "  all  things  "  that  "  work  together  for  good  " 
to  the  child  of  God.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  among  those 
favored  ones  for  whom  the  "  light  afflictions  ''  of  this 
world  were  to  "  work  the  far  more  exceeding  and  eter- 
nal weight  of  glory."  Of  some  peculiar  trials  which  his 
great  soul  experienced  during  the  years  of  his  presi- 
dency, it  is  here  designed  to  speak ;  though  it  may  be 
true  that  other  weights  were  upon  his  expanding  spirit, 
and  other  trials,  even  more  grievous,  oppressed  his  soul : 
for,  evermore,  the  hidden  sorrow  is  deepest,  and  only 
the  human  heart  itself  knoweth  its  own  bitterness.  By 
the  very  greatness  of  Lincoln's  character,  we  may  mea- 
sure the  discipline  of  trial  and  sorrow  through  which  he 
had  to  pass  while  a  sojourner  on  earth.  This  life  is  the 
childhood  of  our  existence  ;  and  God  deals  with  us  all  as 
a  father  with  his  children,  wisely  correcting  us  in  need- 
ed discipline,  lor  our  highest  good. 

We  know  some  of  the  trials  of  his  early  life,  his  bitter 
grief  at  the  loss  of  a  beloved  mother,  his  struggles  amid 
poverty  and  other  discouragements.  And,  when  he  be- 
came the  President  of  the  vast  Republic,  there  was  laid 
upon  him  the  burden  of  responsibility  which  must  rest 
upon  a  leader  in  the  time  of  civil  war. 

His  personal  friend  Col.  Deming  declares,  "The  hour 
when  doubt  and  hesitancy  first  yielded  to  the  stern  com- 
mand of  remorseless  duty  must  have  been  the  soberest, 
saddest,  solemnest  of  his  faithful  life,  not  from  doubt  of 
the  result,  though  that  was  sufficiently  perplexing ;  not 

»  >Jr».  Stowe's"  Minister's  Wooiu." 


106  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

from  fear  of  the  consequences,  though  these  were  appall- 
ing enough;  not  from  the  weight  of  responsibility,  though 
that  might  have  staggered  the  most  unyielding  deter- 
mination ;  but  it  was  sad  and  solemn,  because  Abraham 
Lincoln  above  and  beyond  all  other  men  loved  peace,  and 
hated  war  ;  because  sieges,  battles,  strife,  swords,  bayo- 
ets,  rifles,  cannon,  all  the  paraphernalia  and  instruments 
of  brute  force,  were  abhorrent  to  his  enlightened  and 
benevolent  nature.  Shall  we  raise  the  latch,  and  enter 
into  the  secret  chamber  of  that  capacious  and  genial 
soul  when  this  fell  resolve  was  first  reached ;  when  the 
frightful  vision  of  war,' in  all  its  terrors  clad,  supplants 
there  the  hope  of  conciliation  and  the  dream  of  peace  ? 
I  speak  what  I  heard  from  his  own  lips,  when  I  say, 
that  it  was  reached  after  sleepless  nights,  after  a  severe 
conflict  with  himself,  and  with  extreme  reluctance.  By 
a  strange  and  cruel  freak  of  fate,  the  duty  of  waging 
the  bloodiest  war  in  history  was  imposed  upon  the  most 
peace-loving  and  amiable  ruler  in  all  time ;  upon  a  man 
whose  maxim  was,  in  the  language  of  one  of  his  favorite 
texts, '  Let  the  potsherd  strive  with  the  potsherds  of  the 
earth ; '  and  into  whose  mind  had  been  thoroughly  in- 
grained that  traditional  notion  of  our  politics,  —  that  the 
first  drop  of  blood  shed  in  a  sectional  strife  was  the 
death-knell  of  the  American  Union. 

"Let  us  enter  in  where  that  now  disembodied  spirit 
was,  in  the  recesses  of  its  clay  tenement,  in  stormy 
debate  with  itself.  What  throes,  what  agony,  do  we 
witness  !  —  what  heart-rending  sobs,  what  heaven-pier- 
cing prayers,  that  the  cup  may  pass  from  his  lips  !  Here 
was  that  conservative  mind,  trained  to  habits  of  profes- 
sional caution,  with  the  strongest  bias  towards  legality 
and  moderation,  which  had  uniformly  steered  itself  by  the 
gertain  lights  of  jurisprudence;  which  had  invoked  QO 


PECULIAR   TRIALS.  107 

remedies  but  the  peaceful  ones  of  the  courts,  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  the  law ;  which  had  never  combated  error  but 
with  reason  and  persuasion  alone,  and  had  abjured  the 
ordeal  of  battle,  and  the  arbitrament  of  force,  as  absolute 
and  heathenish  enormities,  —  here  are  all  these  mature, 
earnest  opinions,  and  prepossessions,  all  dominant  from 
fifty  years  of  independent  sway,  wrestling  impotently 
with  the  war  ideas,  and  the  overmastering  war  revela- 
tion, of  yesterday.  What  an  unwelcome  intruder  the 
conviction  is  to  the  serene  virtues,  which  had  hitherto 
exclusively  occupied  this  holy  sanctuary  !  Domesticated 
here  are  Justice  and  Mercy  (and  '  earthly  power  is  likest 
God's  when  Mercy  seasons  Justice  ' ), — Justice  and  Mer- 
cy, which  hold  the  balances  quite  evenly,  but  the  hair's 
weight  which  oscillates  them  uniformlj-  found  in  Mercy's 
scale ;  and  how  repulsive  it  is  to  these  righteous  and  dis- 
criminating attributes  to  let  loose  upon  the  people  a  wild 
and  furious  avenger  that  devours  alike  innocence  and 
guilt ! 

"  Here,  too,  dwell  sensibilities  and  affections  so  acute, 
that  they  fling  wide  open  the  doors  of  the  soul  to  every 
one  who  approaches  in  misfortune's  name,  grant  the 
prayer  of  sorrow  before  it  is  half  uttered,  and  which  the 
inarticulate  wail  of  infancy  instantly  melts  into  tears  of 
most  compassionate  tenderness.  How  are  these  sensitive 
fibres  wrung  and  tortured  when  it  suddenly  flashes  upon 
them  that  the  loving  hand,  which  has  learned  ouly  to 
soothe  and  relieve  the  miserable,  is  commissioned  by  in- 
exorable fate  to  break  the  fourth  seal  of  the  Apocalypse, 
and,  '  behold,  a  pale  horse  !  and  his  name  who  sat  OD  him 
was  Death,  and  Hell  followed  him ;  and  power  was  p»wen 
unto  them  over  the  fourth  part  of  the  earth  to  kill  ?nth 
the  sword  and  with  hunger  and  with  death, and  with' he 
beasts  of  the  eartV 


108  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

"  Movelessly,  movclessly  rooted  also  in  this  great  heai  t 
is  a  superfine  sense 'of  humor,  craving  hilarity  and  harm- 
less mirth,  and  joy-inspiring  wit  and  anecdote,  as  the 
only  effectual  relief  to  an  over-anxious  spirit  and  an  over- 
taxed brain ;  and  how  reluctantly  does  this  part  of  his 
nature  admit  to  close  companionship  the  gloomy  fore- 
bodings, the  little  memories,  the  dreadful  uncertainties, 
the  everlasting  shrieks,  dirges,  vengeful  tragedies,  and 
heart-rending  atrocities,  of  war  1 " 

This  vivid  portrayal  of  Lincoln's  character  and  feel- 
ings shows  us  one  of  his  peculiar  trials.  He  suffered 
during  the  struggle  which  preceded  his  decision  that 
the  war  must  be  prosecuted ;  and  he  suffered  during  its 
continuance  by  the  constant  jarring  of  the  machinery 
he  was  seeking  to  keep  in  motion.  His  motives  were 
misunderstood,  his  character  maligned,  and  his  plans 
often  frustrated,  by  those  whose  best  good  he  was  contin- 
ually studying. 

In  common  with  his  loyal  countrymen,  he  felt  the  gloom 
of  those  hours  of  the  war  when  defeat  lowered  our  beauti- 
ful banner ;  but  he  felt  it  with  peculiar  force  because  he, 
was  the  leader.  "  How  nobly  the  President  bore  him- 
self during  this  interval  of  darkness  that  could  be  felt, 
when  bold  men  trembled  at  every  click  of  the  telegraph, 
let  two  tributes,  offered  by  unfriendly  voices  to  his 
stoicism,  attest :  the  first  is  from  no  less  a  master  of  it 
than  Napoleon  the  Third,  who  epigrammatically  says, 
'Mr.  Lincoln's  highest  claim  upon  my  admiration  is  a 
Roman  equanimity,  which  has  been  tried  by  both  ex- 
tremes of  fortune,  and  disturbed  by  neither.'  The  second 
is  from  a  hostile  Englishman,  who  says,  that,  '  tried  by 
years  of  failure,  without  achieving  one  great  success,  he 
not  only  never  yielded  to  despondency  or  anger,  but, 
what  is  most  marvellous,  continually  grew  in  self-posses- 
lion  a.nd  magnanimity.' 


PECULIAR   f RIALS.  109 

"I  once  myself  ventured  to  ask  the  President  if  he  had 
ever  despaired  of  the  country ;  and  he  told  me,  that,  when 
the  Peninsular  campaign  terminated  suddenly  at  Harri- 
son's Landing,  he  was  as  nearly  inconsolable  as  he  could 
be,  and  live.  In  the  same  connection,  I  inquired  if  there 
had  ever  been  a  period  in  which  he  thought  that  better 
management  upon  the  part  of  his  commanding-general 
might  have  terminated  the  war :  and  he  answered  that 
there  were  three;  that  the  first  was  at  Malvern  Hill,  when 
McClellan  failed  to  command  an  immediate  advance  upon 
Richmond;  that  the  second  was  at  Chancellorville,  where 
Hooker  failed  to  re-enforce  Sedgwick  after  hearing  his 
cannon  upon  the  extreme  right;  and  that  the  third  was 
after  Lee's  retreat  from  Gettysburg,  when  Meade  failed 
to  attack  him  in  the  bend  of  the  Potomac.  After  this 
commentary,  J  waited  for  an  outburst  of  denunciation,  for 
a  criticism,  at  least,  upon  the  delinquent  officers;  but  I 
waited  in  vain  :  so  far  from  a  word  of  censure  escaping  his 
lips,  he  soon  idded,  that  his  first  remark  might  not  appear 
uncharitably  '  I  do  not  know  that  I  could  have  given 
different  orders  had  I  been  with  them  myself:  I  have 
not  fully  made  up  my  mind  how  I  should  behave  when 
Minie-balls  were  whistling,  and  those  great  oblong  shells 
shrieking,  in  my  ear.  I  might  run  away.'  "  * 

He  spoke  and  acted  with  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent 
and  the  harmlessness  of  the  dove  whenever  practicable. 
In  August,  1862,  he  said,  when,  as  one  of  the  peculiar 
trials  incident  to  his  position,  he  stood,  as  it  were,  be- 
tween contending  parties,  "  Gen.  McClellan's  attitude 
is  such,  that,  in  the  very  selfishness  of  his  nature,  he  can- 
not but  wish  to  be  successful,  and  I  hope  he  will ;  and 
the  Secretary  of  War  is  in  precisely  the  same  situa- 

*  Col.  Deminij's  Address. 


110  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

tion.  .  .  .  Gen.  McClellan  has  sometimes  asked  for  things 
which  the  Secretary  of  War  did  not  give  him.  Gen. 
McClellan  is  not  to  blame  for  asking  what  he  wanted  and 
needed ;  and  the  Secretary  of  War  is  not  to  blame  foi 
not  giving  when  he  had  none  to  give."  Thus  he  sought 
to  conciliate  opposera  and  fault-finders-;  but  still  he  must 
have  suffered  from  the  unrest  such  cavilling  induces.  He 
had  a  similar  trial  when  he  removed  Gen.  Curtis  ;  and 
so  in  March,  1863,  he  wrote,  "  Your  despatch  is  received. 
It  is  very  painful  to  me  that  you,  in  Missouri,  cannot  or 
will  not  settle  your  factional  quarrel  among  yourselves. 
I  have  been  tormented  with  it  beyond  endurance,  for 
mouths,  by  both  sides.  Neither  side  pays  the  least 
respect  to  my  appeals  to  your  reason :  I  am  now  com- 
pelled to  take  hold  of  the  case." 

When  he  issued  his  immortal  proclamation,  there  were 
fault-finders  to  whom  he  was  compelled  to  reply :  "  If, 
now,  the  pressure  of  war  should  call  off  our  forces  from 
New  Orleans  to  defend  some  other  point,  what  is  to  pre- 
vent the  masters  from  reducing  the  blacks  to  slavery 
again?  for  I  am  told,  that  whenever  the  rebels  take  any 
black  prisoners,  free  or  slave,  they  immediately  auction 
them  off  (they  did  so  with  those  they  took  from  a  boat 
in  the  Tennessee  River  a  few  days  ago) ;  and  then  I  am 
very  ungenerously  attacked  for  it.  For  instance :  When, 
after  the  late  battles  at  and  near  Bull  Run,  an  expedition 
went  out  from  Washington,  under  a  flag  of  truce,  to  bury 
the  dead  and  bring  in  the  wounded,  and  the  rebels 
seized  the  blacks  who  went  along  to  help,  and  sent  them 
into  slavery,  Horace  Greeley  said  in  his  paper  that 
'the  Government  would  probably  do  nothing  about  it.' 
What  could  Idol" 

It  is  plain  that  the  President  felt  keenly  the  censures 
of  those"  who  misunderstood  his  motives,  and  did  not 
agree  with  his  plans. 


PECULIAR   TRIALS,  111 

The  President  suffered,  too,  when  the  fate  of  war  over- 
took his  personal  friends,  and  they  that  drew  the  sword 
perished  by  the  sword.  TVith  his  great  heart  of  sym- 
pathy, he  felt  for  all  who  mourned  the  loss  of  father,  son, 
brother,  husband,  or  friend ;  but  there  must,  of  course, 
have  been  for  him  peculiar  trials  in  the  death  of  those 
whom  he  personally  knew  and  loved.  Col.  Baker,  the 
senator  from  California,  who  deemed  it  his  duty  to  lay 
aside  the  toga,  and  buckle  on  the  sword,  was  one  of  the 
friends  whom  he  was  called  to  lose  when  our  brave  boys 
were  defeated  at  Ball's  Bluff.*  A  lady  correspondent  of 
the  "  San-Francisco  Bulletin  "  thus  alludes  to  a  conver- 
sation which  she  had  with  the  President,  at  the  Sol- 
diers' Home,  near  Washington,  in  which  they  referred 
to  Col.  Baker,  and  felt  his  loss  :  — 

"  I  had  always  noticed  that  the  bare  mention  of  our 
California  cemetery  filled  the  minds  of  those  who  heard 
it  with  a  solemn  sense  of  awe  and  sorrow, —  Lone  Moun- 
tain 1  It  seemed  to  rise  before  them  out  of  the  quiet 
sea,  a  vast  mausoleum  from  the  hand  of  God  wherein 
to  lay  the  dead.  I  was  not  astonished,  therefore,  when 
Mr.  Lincoln  alluded  to  it  in  this  way,  and  gave,  in  a  few 
deep-toned  words,  a  eulogy  on  one  of  its  most  honored 
dead, —  Col.  Baker.  Having  witnessed  the  impressive 
spectacle  of  that  glorious  soldier's  funeral,  I  gave  him 
the  meagre  outline  one  can  convey  in  words,  of  some- 
thing, which,  having  been  once  seen,  must  remain  a  liv- 
ing picture  in  the  memory  forever.  I  tried  to  picture 
the  solemn  hush  that  lay  like  a  pall  on  the  spirit  of 
the  people  while  the  grand  procession  wound  its  mourn- 
ful length  through  the  streets  of  the  city,  out  on  that 

•  Once  Lincoln  said  the  keenest  blow  of  all  the  war  was  at  an  early  stage, 
when  the  disaster  of  Ball's  Bluff  and  the  death  of  his  beloved  Baker  srnoU 
aim  like  a  whirlwind  from  the  desert. 


112  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

tear-stained  road,  to  the  gate  of  the  cemetery,  where 
the  body  passed  beneath  the  prophetic  words  of  the 
most  eloquent  soul,  '  Hither,  in  the  future  ages,  they 
shall  bring,'  &c. 

"  When  I  spoke  of  the  California  apostle,  Starr  King,  I 
saw  how  strong  a  chord  I  had  touched  in  the  great  ap- 
preciative heart  I  addressed  ;  and,  giving  a  weak  dilution 
of  that  wondrous  draught  of  soul-lit  eloquence,  —  that 
funeral  hymn  uttered  by  the  priest  of  God  over  the 
sacred  ashes  of  the  advocate  and  soldier  of  liberty,  whose 
thrilling  threnody  seems  yet  to  linger  in  the  sighing 
wind  that  waves  the  grass  upon  the  soil  made  sacred  by 
the  treasure  it  received  that  day,  —  I  felt  strangely  im- 
pressed as  to  the  power  and  grandeur  of  that  mind 
whose  thoughts  at  second-hand,  and  haltingly  given  from 
memory,  should  move  and  touch  the  soul  of  such  a  man 
as  Abraham  Lincoln, as  I  saw  it  touched  when  he  listened. 
It  is  the  electric  chain  with  which  all  genius  and  grand- 
eur of  soul  whatsoever  is  bound ;  the  free-masonry  by 
which  spirit  hails  spirit,  though  unseen.  Now  they  all 
three  meet  .where  it  is  not  seeing  '  through  a  glass 
darkly,'  but  in  the  light  of  a  perfect  day." 

The  President  was  also  and  earlier  personally  afflicted, 
when,  — 

"  Down  where  the  patriot-army, 

Near  Potomac's  tide, 
Guards  the  glorious  cause  of  Freedom, 

Gallant  Ellsworth  died." 
-*• 

This  brave  and  remarkably  efficient  young  officer  had 
been  associated  with  the  President  when  in  Illinois ;  and 
at  his  funeral,  which  took  place  at  the  White  House,  the 
President  was  the  chief  mourner. 

"  Bold  leader  of  the  Zouave  band!  — 
A  name  not  written  in  the  sand,  — 
Thou,  dying,  leav'st  thy  native  land. 


PECULIAR   TRIALS.  113 

In  Freedom's  annals,  side  by  side, 
Thy  name  with  Warren's  is  allied,  — 
The  tyrant's  dread,  the  patriot's  pride ! 

The  marble  shaft  for  each  we  raise; 

For  each  the  poet  pours  his  lays ; 

Time  wreathes  for  both  unwithering  bays."  • 

But  there  was  one  stroke  nearer  home  than  all  which 
jeere  among  the  peculiar  trials  of  our  beloved  Chief 
Magistrate.  Once  before,  the  nation  sympathized  with  a 
father  and  mother  who  must  tread  the  halls  of  the  White 
House  without  the  echoes  of  familiar  footsteps  at  their 
side.  President  Pierce  and  President  Lincoln  both 
knew  what  it  was  to  wear  the  robe  of  royalty,  as  it 
were,  over  a  bleeding  heart.  The  nation  sympathized 
when  little  Willie  Lincoln  died ;  and  on  the  day  when,  all 
over  the  land,  citizens  assembled,  in  response  to  the 
President's  request,  that  the  "  Farewell  Address "  of 
Washington  might  be  read,  the  head  of  the  nation  sat 
bowed  with  grief  over  the  dear  remains  of  his  darling 
son. 

The  following  was  addressed  to  the  Senate  and  House ; 
but  Congress  had  adjourned  before  it  was  delivered : — 

"  The  President  of  the  United  States  was  last  evening 
plunged  into  affliction  by  the  death  of  a  beloved  child. 
1  he  heads  of  departments,  in  consideration  of  this  dis- 
tressing event,  have  thought  it  would  be  agreeable  to 
Congress  and  to  the  American  people  that  the  official 
and  private  buildings  occupied  by  them  should  not  be 
illuminated  on  the  evening  of  the  22d  inst. 

"  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARP. 
SALMON  P.  CHASE. 
E.  M.  STANTON. 
GIDEON  WELLES. 
EDWARD  P.  BATES. 
M.  BLAIB." 
•  Mary  Webb. 


114  ABRAHAM   LINCOLtT. 

And  this  official  communication  was  but  one  among 
many  tokens  that  the  people  felt  deep  sympathy  with 
their  beloved  President  in  his  paternal  grief. 

One  of  the  leading  newspapers  thus  refers  to  the  last 
sad  rites  over  the  early-called  :  — 

"  The  funeral  of  Master  William  Wallace  Lincoln  oc- 
curred yesterday  at  the  White  House,  at  two,  P.M.  His 
friends  and  acquaintances  were  previously  allowed  the 
sad  pleasure  of  a  last  look  in  the  Green  Room,  where 
lay  his  remains,  clothed  in  accustomed  pants  and  jacket, 
with  white  stockings  and  low  shoes,  with  white  collar 
and  wristbands  turned  over  the  dark  cloth  of  the  jacket. 

"  On.  his  breast  rested  a  wreath  of  flowers  ;  another  lay 
near  his  feet ;  while  a  beautiful  bouquet  was  held  in  his 
hand :  the  flowers  composing  the  wreaths  and  bouquet 
being  the  queenly  camellias  ;  while  azalias,arid  sprigs  of 
mignonette,  were  disposed  about  the  body. 

"  The  beautiful  bouquet  in  his  hand  was  reserved  for  his 
sorrowing  mother.  A  plain,  metallic  case  of  imitation 
rosewood  was  inscribed,  '  William  Wallace  Lincoln,  born 
Dec.  21,  1850;  died  Feb.  20,  1802.'  The  frames  of  the 
mirrors  in  the  east  and  green  rooms  were  covered  with 
black  crape ;  and  the  glass,  with  white  crape.  The 
funeral-service  was  performed  by  the  pastor  of  the  Presi- 
dent, Rev.  Dr.  Gurley,  in  a  very  impressive  manner. 

"  There  were  present  members  of  the  Cabinet,  foreign 
ministers,  members  of  Congress,  army  and  navy  officers, 
and  many  citizens  and  ladies.  After  the  services,  the 
body  was  placed  m  a  vault  at  the  Oak-Hill  Cemetery,  at 
Georgetown."  * 

Little  did  any  then  assembled  think,  as  they  looked 
upon  the  motionless  form  of  the  departed  son,  that,  ere 

•  *  "  National  Republican." 


TRIALS.  115 

many  month?,  that  precious  dust  would  be  removed  and 
borne  in  a  funeral  procession,  the  like  of  which  was 
never  seen  before ;  and  that  the  father's  form,  now  con- 
vulsed with  grief,  would  then  be  lying  cold  and  still  in 
the  sarcophagus  where  a  nation  had  tearfully  laid  him, 
and  move,  side  by  side  with  the  son,  in  an  almost 
triumphal  march,  to  a  final  resting-place  in  the  Western 
land  they  loved,  and  from  whence  they  came  to  the 
Nation's  capitol  and  the  Nation's  heart. 

At  that  far-off  grave-side,  the  voice  of  the  living 
preacher  proclaimed  the  fact,  which  all  men  had  learned 
by  the  rich  experiences  of  four  sad  years,  that  the  heart 
of  the  martyred  President  was  tenderness  itself;  and  it 
was  pierced  by  the  arrow  of  bereavement  at  the  death 
of  "Little  Willie."  Said  the  bishop  then  officiating, — 

"  In  his  domestic  life,  he  was  exceedingly  kind  and 
affectionate.  He  was  a  devoted  husband  and  father. 
During  his  presidential  term,  he  lost  his  second  son 
Willie.  To  an  officer  of  the  army  he  said,  not  long 
since,  'Do  you  ever  find  yourself  talking  with  the  dead?' 
and  added,  '  Since  Willie's  death,  I  catch  myself  every 
day  involuntarily  talking  with  him,  as  if  he  were  with 
me.' " 

Even  that  trial  was  a  blessing  to  his  spirit.  Heaven 
seemed  nearer,  doubtless,  because  Willie  had  passed 
through  the  gate.  And,  most  assuredly,  all  the  trials 
which  our  President  was  called  to  endure,  though  they 
were  "  not  joyous,  but  grievous,"  yet  they  wrought  in 
him  "the  peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness,"  and  day  by 
day  he  was  ripening  for  the  immortality  into  which  he 
was  so  soon  to  enter. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

REMARKABLE   DOCUMENTS. 

"  Now  '  Onward  to  Fre  dom ! '  let  this  be  the  cry ; 
For  justice  and  truth  aiv  born  never  to  die : 
Go,  say  to  the  minions  01  slavery's  thrall 
That  all  men  are  brothers,  and  God  over  all  ! 
Though  stern  be  the  struggle,  the  triumph  we'll  tell 
•In  the  jubilant  peal  of  the  Liberty-bell ! " 

MARY  WEBB. 

*  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away;  but  my  words  shall  not  pass  away."  — THB 
LORD  JESUS  (Lukexxi.  33). 

THERE  are  some  documents  that  will  never  be  forgot- 
ten, whose  words  will  never  lose  their  power.  England's 
"  Magna  Chauia  "  and  America's  "  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence "  are  among  them.  So  also  is  the  "  Emanci- 
pation Proclamation  "  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  While  this 
volume  is  not  to  be  crowded  with  official  documents,  a 
chapter  must,  at  least,  be  given  to  some  papers  written 
by  the  hand  that  held  the  sceptre  and  the  sword  in  this 
nation  during  the  stormy  period  of  the  Rebellion,  and 
which  are  unmistakably  stamped  with  his  own  noble- 
ness of  soul. 

First  in  order  of  time  comes  President  Lincoln's 

FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

"  FELLOW-CITIZENS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  —  In  com- 
pliance with  a  custom  as  old  as  the  Government  itself, 
I  appear  before  you  to  address  you  briefly,  and  to  take, 
in  your  presence,  the  oath  prescribed  by  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  to  be  taken  by  the  President  before 
he  enters  on  the  execution  of  his  office. 

116 


REMARKABLE  DOCUMENTS.  117 

"  I  do  not  consider  it  necessary,  at  present,  for  ine  to 
discuss  those  matters  of  administration  about  which 
there  is  no  special  anxiety  or  excitement.  Apprehen- 
sion seems  to  exist  among  the  people  of  the  Southern 
States,  that,  by  the  accession  of  a  Republican  Adminis- 
tration, their  property,  and  their  peace  and  personal 
security,  are  to  be  endangered.  There  has  never  been 
any  reasonable  cause  for  such  apprehension.  Indeed, 
the  most  ample  evidence  to  the  contrary  has  all  the 
while  existed,  and  been  open  to  their  inspection.  It  is 
found  in  nearly  all  the  published  speeches  of  him  who 
now  addresses  you.  I  do  but  quote  from  one  of  those 
speeches  when  I  declare  that  'I  have  no  purpose, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  interfere  with  the  institution  of 
slavery  in  the  States  where  it  exists.'  I  believe  I  have 
no  lawful  right  to  do  so;  and  I  have  no  inclination  to  do 
so.  Those  who  nominated  and  elected  me  did  so  with 
the  full  knowledge  that  I  had  made  this  and  made  many 
similar  declarations,  and  had  never  recanted  them;  and, 
more  than  this,  they  placed  in  the  platform,  for  my  ac- 
ceptance, and  as  a  law  to  themselves  and  to  me,  the 
clear  and  emphatic  resolution  which  I  now  read:  — 

" '  Resolved,  That  the  maintenance  inviolate  of  the 
rights  of  the  States,  and  especially  the  right  of  each 
State  to  order  and  control  its  own  domestic  institutions 
according  to  its  own  judgment  exclusively,  is  essential 
to  that  balance  of  power  on  which  the  perfection  and 
endurance  of  our  political  fabric  depend;  and  we  de- 
nounce the  lawless  invasion,  by  armed  force,  of  the  soil 
of  any  State  or  Territory,  no  matter  under  what  pretext, 
as  among  the  greatest  of  crimes.' 

"  I  now  reiterate  these  sentiments ;  and,  in  doing  so,  I 
only  press  upon  the  public  attention  the  most  conclusive 
evidence  of  which  the  case  is  susceptible,  —  that  the  prop- 


118  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

erty,  peace,  and  security  of  no  section  are  to  be  in  any 
wise  endangered  by  the  now  incoming  Administration. 

"  I  add,  too,  that  all  the  protection  which,  consistently 
with  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  can  be  given,  will  be 
cheerfully  given  to  all  the  States  when  lawfully  de- 
manded, for  whatever  cause,  as  cheerfully  to  one  section 
as  to  another. 

"There  is  much  controversy  about  the  delivering-up 
of  fugitives  from  service  or  labor.  The  clause  I  now 
read  is  as  plainly  written  in  the  Constitution  as  any 
other  of  its  provisions  :  — 

"  'No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  State,  under 
the  laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  conse- 
quence of  any  law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged 
from  such  service  or  labor,  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on 
claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may 
be  due.' 

"'It  is  scarcely  questioned  that  this  provision  was  in- 
tended by  those  who  made  it  for  the  reclaiming  of  what 
we  call  fugitive  slaves ;  and  the  intention  of  the  lawgiver 
is  the  law. 

"All  members  of  Congress  swear  their  support  to  the 
whole  Constitution,  —  to  this  provision  as  Wj3ll  as  any 
other.  To  the  proposition,  then,  that  slaves  whose 
cases  come  within  the  terms  of  this  clause  '  shall  be  de- 
livered up/  their  oaths  are  unanimous.  Now,  if  they 
would  make  the  effort  in  good  temper,  could  they  not, 
with  nearly  equal  unanimity,  frame  and  pass  a  law  by 
means  of  which  to  keep  good  that  unanimous  oath  ? 

"There  is  some  difference  of  opinion  whether  this 
clause  should  be  enforced  by  National  or  by  State  autho- 
rity ;  but  surely  that  difference  is  not  a  very  material  one. 
If  the  slave  is  to  be  surrendered,  it  can  be  of  but  little 
consequence  to  him  or  to  others  by  which  authority  it  is 


REMARKABLE  DOCUMENTS.  119 

done  ;  and  should  any  one,  in  any  case,  be  content  that 
this  oath  shall  go  unkept,  on  a  merely  unsubstantial  con- 
troversy as  to  how  it  shall  be  kept  ? 

"  Again:  in  any  law  upon  this  subject,  ought  not  all 
the  safeguards  of  liberty  known  in  civilized  and  humane 
jurisprudence  to  be  so  that  a  free  man  be  not,  in  any 
case,  surrendered  as  a  slave  ?  And  might  it  not  be  well 
at  the  same  time  to  provide  by  law  for  the  enforcement 
of  that  clause  in  the  Constitution  which  guarantees  that 
1  the  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the 
privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several 
States '  ? 

"  I  take  the  official  oath  to-day  with  no  mental  reserva- 
tions, and  with  no  purpose  to  construe  the  Constitution 
or  laws  by  any  hypercritical  rules.  While  I  do  not  choose 
now  to  specify  particular  acts  of  Congress  as  proper  to 
be  enforced,  I  do  suggest  that  it  will  be  much  safer  for 
all,  both  in  official  and  private  stations,  to  conform  to, 
and  abide  by,  all  those  acts  which  stand  unrepealed,  than 
to  violate  any  of  them,  trusting  to  find  impunity  in  hav- 
ing them  held  to  be  unconstitutional. 

"  It  is  seventy-two  years  since  the  first  inauguration 
of  a  President  under  our  National  Constitution.  During 
that  period,  fifteen  different  and  very  distinguished  citi- 
zens have,  in  succession,  administered  the  executive 
branch  of  the  Government.  They  have  conducted  it 
through  many  perils,  and,  generally,  with  great  success. 
Yet,  with  all  this  scope  for  precedent,  I  now  enter  upon 
the  same  task  for  the  brief  constitutional  term  of  four 
years  under  great  and  peculiar  difficulties.  A  disrup- 
tion of  the  Federal  Union,  heretofore  only  menaced,  is 
now  formidably  attempted.  I  hold  that  in  the  contempla- 
tion of  universal  law,  and  of  the  Constitution,  the  Union 
of  these  States  is  perpetual.  Perpetuity  is  implied,  if 


120  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

not  expressed,  in  the  fundamental  law  of  all  national  gov- 
ernments. It  is  safe  to  assert  that  no  government  proper 
ever  had  a  provision  in  its  organic  law  for  its  own  termi- 
nation. Continue  to  execute  all  the  express  provisions 
of  our  National  Constitution,  and  the  Union  will  endure 
forever;  it  being  impossible  to  destroy  it,  except  by  some 
action  not  provided  for  in  the  instrument  itself.  Again: 
if  the  United  States  be  not  a  government  proper,  but  an 
association  of  States  in  the  nature  of  a  contract  merely, 
can  it,  as  a  contract,  be  peaceably  unmade  by  less  than 
all  the  parties  who  made  it?  One  party  to  a  contract  may 
violate  it, — break  it,  so  to  speak  ;  but  does  it  not  require 
all  to  lawfully  rescind  it  ?  Descending  from  these  general 
principles,  we  find  the  proposition,  that, in  legal  contempla- 
tion, the  Union  is  perpetual,  confirmed  by  the  history  of 
the  Union  itself.  The  Union  is  much  older  than  the 
Constitution.  It  was  formed,  in  fact,  by  the  Articles  of 
Association  in  1774.  It  was  matured  and  continued  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  in  1776.  It  was  further 
matured,  and  the  faith  of  all  the  then  thirteen  States  ex- 
pressly plighted  and  engaged  that  it  should  be  perpetual, 
by  the  Articles  of  the  Confederation  in  1778;  and  finally, 
in  1787,  one  of  the  declared  objects  for  establishing  the 
Constitution  was  to  form  a  more  perfect  Union.  But,  if 
the  destruction  of  the  Union  by  one  or  by  a  part  only  of 
the  States  be  lawfully  possible,  the  Union  is  less  than 
before,  the  Constitution  having  lost  the  vital  element 
of  perpetuity.  It  follows  from  these  views  that  no  State 
upon  its  own  mere  motion  can  lawfully  get  out  of  the 
Union  ;  that  resolves  and  ordinances  to  that  effect  are 
legally  void ;  and  that  acts  of  violence  within  any  State 
or  States  against  the  United  States  are  insurrectionary 
or  revolutionary,  according  to  circumstances.  I  there- 
fore consider,  that,  in  view  of  the  Constitution  and  the 


REMARKABLE  DOCUMENTS.  121 

laws,  the  Union  is  unbroken ;  and,  to  the  extent  of  my 
ability,  I  shall  take  care,  as  the  Constitution  itself  ex- 
pressly enjoins  upon  me,  that  the  laws  of  the  Union  shah1 
be  faithfully  executed  in  all  the  States.  Doing  this, 
which  I  deem  to  be  only  a  simple  duty  on  ray  part,  I 
shall  perfectly  perform  it,  so  far  as  is  practicable,  unless 
my  rightful  masters,  the  American  people,  shall  withhold 
the  requisition,  or,  in  some  authoritative  measure,  direct 
the  contrary.  I  trust  this  will  not  be  regarded  as  a 
menace,  but  only  as  the  declared  purpose  of  the  Union, 
that  it  will  constitutionally  defend  and  maintain  itself. 
In  doing  this,  there  need  be  no  bloodshed  or  violence ; 
and  there  shall  be  none,  unless  it  is  forced  upon  the  na- 
tional authority.  The  power  confided  to  me  will  be  used 
to  hold,  occupy,  and  possess  the  property  and  places  belong- 
ing to  the  Government,  and  collect  the  duties  and  im- 
posts; but,  beyond  what  may  be  neceoeary  for  those 
objects,  there  will  be  no  invasion,  no  using  of  force 
against  or  among  the  people  anywhere.  "Where  hostility 
to  the  United  States  shall  be  so  great  and  so  universal 
as  to  prevent  competent  Federal  citizens  from  holding 
office,  there  will  be  no  attempt  to  force  obnoxious  stran- 
ger? upon  the  people  who  object.  While  the  strict  legal 
right  may  exist  of  the  Government  to  enforce  the  ex- 
ercise of  these  offices,  the  attempt  to  do  so  would  be  so 
irritating  and  so  nearly  impracticable  withal,  that  I  deem 
it  best  to  forego,  for  the  time,  the  uses  of  such  offices. 
The  mails,  unless  repelled,  will  continue  to  be  furnished 
in  all  parts  of  the  Union.  So  far  as  possible,  the  people 
everywhere  shall  have  that  sense  of  perfect  security 
which  is  most  favorable  to  calm  thought  and  reflection. 

"  The  course  here  indicated  will  be  followed,  unless 
current  events  and  experience  shall  show  a  modification 
or  change  to  be  proper;  and,  in  every  case  and  exigency, 


122  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

my  best  discretion  will  be  exercised  according  to  the 
circumstances  actually  existing,  and  with  a  view  and 
hope  of  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  national  troubles,  and 
the  restoration  of  fraternal  sympathies  and  affections. 

"  That  there  are  persons  in  one  section  or  another  who 
seek  to  destroy  the  Union  at  all  events,  and  are  glad  of 
any  pretext  to  do  it,  I  will  neither  affirm  nor  deny.  But, 
if  there  be  such,  I  need  address  no  word  to  them.  To 
those,  however,  who  really  love  the  Union,  may  I  not 
speak  before  entering  upon  so  grave  a  matter  as  the 
destruction  of  our  national  fabric,  with  all  its  benefits, 
its  memories,  and  its  hopes  ?  Would  it  not  be  well  to 
ascertain  why  we  do  it  ?  Will  you  hazard  so  desperate  a 
step,  while  any  portion  of  the  ills  you  fly  from  have  no 
real  existence  ?  Will  you,  while  the  certain  ills  you  fly 
to  are  greater  than  all  the  real  ones  you  fly  from,  —  will 
you  risk  the  commission  of  so  fearful  a  mistake  ?  All 
profess  to  be  content  in  the  Union  if  all  constitutional 
rights  can  be  maintained.  Is  it  true,  then,  that  any 
right  plainly  written  in  the  Constitution  has  been  de- 
nied ?  I  think  not.  Happily  the  human  mind  is  so  con- 
stituted, that  no  party  can  reach  to  the  audacity  of  doing 
this. 

"Think,  if  you  can,  of  a  single  instance  in  which  a 
plainly  written  provision  of  the  Constitution  has  ever 
been  denied.  If,  by  mere  force  of  numbers,  a  majority 
should  deprive  a  minority  of  any  clearly  written  con- 
stitutional right,  it  might,  in  a  moral  point  of  view, 
justify  revolution  :  it  certainly  would  if  such  right  were 
&  vital  one.  But  such  is  not  our  case. 

"All  the  vital  rights  of  minorities  and  of  individuals 
are  so  plainly  assured  to  them  by  affirmations  and  nega- 
tions, guaranties  and  prohibitions,  in  the  Constitution, 
that  controversies  never  arise  concerning  them.  But 


REMARKABLE    DOCUMENTS.  128 

00  organic  law  can  ever  be  framed  with  a  provision  spe- 
cifically applicable  to  every  question  which  may  occur 
in  practical  administration.  No  foresight  can  anticipate, 
nor  any  document  of  reasonable  length  contain,  express 
provisions  for  all  possible  questions.  Shall  fugitives  from 
labor  be  surrendered  by  National,  or  by  State  authorities  ? 
The  Constitution  does  not  expressly  say.  Must  Congress 
protect  slavery  in  the  Territories  ?  The  Constitution 
does  not  expressly  say.  From  questions  of  this  nature 
spring  all  our  constitutional  controversies,  and  we  divide 
upon  them  into  majorities  and  minorities. 

"  If  the  minority  will  not  acquiesce,  the  majority  must, 
or  the  Government  must  cease.  There  is  no  alternative 
for  continuing  the  Government  but  acquiescence  on  the 
one  side  or  the  other.  If  a  minority  in  such  a  case  will 
secede  rather  than  acquiesce,  they  make  a  precedent, 
which,  in  turn,  will  ruin  and  divide  them ;  for  a  minority 
of  their  own  will  secede  from  them  whenever  a  majority 
refuses  to  be  controlled  by  such  a  minority.  For  in- 
stance, why  not  any  portion  of  a  new  confederacy  a  year 
or  two  hence  arbitrarily  secede  again^precisely  as  por- 
tions of  the  present  Union  now  claim  to  secede  from  it? 
All  who  cherish  disunion  sentiments  are  now  being  edu- 
cated to  the  exact  temper  of  doing  this.  Is  there  such 
perfect  identity  of  interests  among  the  States  to  com- 
pose a  new  Union  as  to  produce  harmony  only,  and  pre- 
vent renewed  secession  ?  Plainly  the  central  idea  of 
secession  is  the  essence  of  anarchy. 

"  A  majority  held  in  restraint  by  constitutional  check 
and  limitation,  and  always  changing  easily  with  deliber- 
ate changes  of  popular  opinions  and  sentiments,  is  the 
only  true  sovereign  of  a  free  people.  Whoevej:  rejects 
it,  does,  of  necessity,  fly  to  anarchy  or  to  despotism. 
Unanimity  is  impossible  :  the  rule  of  a  majority,  as  a 


124  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

permanent  arrangement,  is  wholly  inadmissible ;  so  that, 
rejecting  the  majority  principle,  anarchy  or  despotism, 
in  some  form,  is  all  that  is  left. 

"  I  do  not  forget  the  position  assumed  by  some,  that 
constitutional  questions  are  to  be  decided  by  the  Su- 
preme Court;  nor  do  I  deny  that  such  decisions  must 
be  binding  in  any  case  upon  the  parties  to  a  suit,  as  to 
the  object  of  that  suit ;  while  they  are  also  entitled  to 
a  very  high  respect  and  consideration  in  all  parallel 
cases  by  all  other  departments  of  the  Government :  and 
while  it  is  obviously  possible  that  such  decision  may  be 
erroneous  in  any  given  case,  still  the  evil  effect  follow- 
ing it  being  limited  to  that  particular  case,  with  the 
chance  that  it  may  be  overruled,  and  never  become  a 
precedent  for  other  cases,  can  better  be  borne  than  could 
the  evils  of  a  different  practice. 

"  At  the  same  time,  the  candid  citizen  must  confess, 
that,  if  the  policy  of  the  Government  upon  the  vital 
question  affecting  the  whole  people  is  to  be  irrevocably 
fixed  by  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  instant 
they  are  made,  a§  in  ordinary  litigation  between  parties 
in  personal  actions,  the  people  will  have  ceased  to  be 
their  own  masters,  unless  having  to  that  extent  practi- 
cally resigned  their  government  into  the  hands  of  that 
eminent  tribunal. 

"  Nor  is  there  in  this  view  any  assault  upon  the  court 
or  the  judges.  It  is  a  duty  from  which  they  may  not 
shrink,  to  decide  cases  properly  brought  before  them  -, 
and  it  is  no  fault  of  theirs  if  others  seek  to  turn  their 
decisions  to  political  purposes.  One  section  of  our  coun- 
try believes  slavery  is  right,  and  ought  to  be  extended, 
while  the  other  believes  it  is  wrong,  and  ought  not  to  be 
extended  ;  and  this  is  the  only  substantial  dispute  ;  and 
the  fugitive-slave  clause  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  luw 


REMARKABLE  DOCUMENTS.  125 

for  the  suppression  of  the  foreign  slave-trade,  are  each 
as  well  enforced,  perhaps,  as  any  law  can  ever  be  in  a 
community  where  the  moral  sense  of  the  people  im- 
perfectly supports  the  law  itself.  The  great  body  of  the 
people  abide  by  the  dry  legal  obligation  in  both  cases, 
and  a  few  break  over  in  each.  This,  I  think,  cannot  be 
perfectly  cured ;  and  it  would  be  worse  in  both  cases 
after  the  separation  of  the  sections  than  before.  The 
foreign  slave-trade,  now  imperfectly  suppressed,  would 
be  ultimately  revived,  without  restriction,  in  one  sec- 
tion ;  while  fugitive  slaves,  now  only  partially  surren- 
dered, would  not  be  surrendered  at  all  by  the  other. 

u  Physically  speaking,  we  cannot  separate ;  we  cannot 
remove  our  respective  sections  from  each  other,  nor 
build  an  impassable  wall  between  them.  A  husband  and 
wife  may  be  divorced,  and  go  out  of  the  presence  and 
beyond  the  reach  of  each  other ;  but  the  different  parts 
of  our  country  cannot  do  this.  They  cannot  but  remain 
face  to  face  ;  and  intercourse,  either  amicable  or  hostile, 
must  continue  between  them.  Is  it  possible,  then,  to 
make  that  intercourse  more  advantageous  or  more  satis- 
factory after  separation  than  before  ?  Can  aliens  make 
treaties  easier  than  friends  can  make  laws  ?  Can  trea- 
ties be  more  faithfully  enforced  between  aliens  than 
laws  can  among  friends?  Suppose  you  go  to  war,  you 
cannot  fight  always ;  and  when,  after  much  loss  on  both 
sides,  and  no  gain  on  either,  you  cease  fighting,  the  iden- 
tical questions  as  to  terms  of  intercourse  are  again 
upon  you. 

"This  country,  with  its  institutions,  belongs  to  the 
people  who  inhabit  it.  Whenever  they  shall  grow  weary 
of  the  existing  government,  they  can  exercise  their  con- 
stitutional right  of  amending,  or  their  revolutionary 
right  to  dismember  or  overthrow  it.  I  cannot  be  ig- 


126  ABRASAM  LIXCOLX. 

norant  of  the  fact,  that  many  worthy  and  patriotic  citi- 
zens are  desirous  of  having  the  National  Constitution 
amended.  While  I  make  no  recommendation  of  amend 
ment,  I  fully  recognize  the  full  authority  of  the  people 
over  the  whole  subject,  to  be  exercised  in  either  of  the 
modes  prescribed  in  the  instrument  itself;  and  I  should, 
under  existing  circumstances,  favor,  rather  than  oppose, 
a  fair  opportunity  being  afforded  the  people  to  act 
upon  it. 

"  I  will  venture  to  add,  that,  to  me,  the  convention 
mode  seems  preferable,  in  that  it  allows  amendments 
to  originate  with  the  people  themselves,  instead  of 
only  permitting  them  to  take  or  reject  propositions 
originated  by  others  not  especially  chosen  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  which  might  not  be  precisely  such  as  they 
would  wish  either  to  accept  or  refuse.  I  understand 
that  a  proposed  amendment  to  the  Constitution  (which 
amendment,  however,  I  have  not  seen)  has  passed  Con- 
gress, to  the  effect  that  the  Federal  Government  shall 
never  interfere  with  the  domestic  institutions  of  States, 
including  that  of  persons  held  to  service.  To  avoid  mis- 
construction of  what  I  have  said,  I  depart  from  my  pur- 
pose, not  to  speak  of  particular  amendments,  so  far  as  to 
say,  that,  holding  such  a  provision  now  to  be  implied 
constitutional  law,  I  have  no  objection  to  its  being  made 
express  and  irrevocable. 

"  The  Chief  Magistrate  derives  all  his  authority  from 
the  people,  and  they  have  conferred  none  upon  him  to 
fix  the  terms  for  the  separation  of  the  States.  The 
people  themselves  can  do  this  if  they  choose  ;  but  the 
Executive,  as  such,  has  nothing  to  do  with  it.  His 
duty  is  to  administer  the  present  Government  as  it  came 
to  his  hands,  and  to  transmit  it,  unimpaired  by  him, 
to  his  successor.  Why  should  there  not  be  a  patient 


REMARKABLE  DOCUMENTS.  127 

confidence  in  the  ultimate  justice  of  the  people?  Is 
there  any  better  or  equal  hope  in  the  world  ?  In  our 
present  differences,  is  either  party  without  faith  of  being 
in  the  right?  If  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  nations,  with  his 
eternal  truth  and  justice,  be  on  your  side  of  the  North, 
or  on  yours  of  the  South,  that  truth  and  that  justice  will 
surely  prevail  by  the  judgment  of  this  great  tribunal,  — 
the  American  people. 

"By  the  frame  of  the  Government  under  which  we  live, 
this  same  people  have  wisely  given  their  public  servants 
but  little  power  for  mischief,  and  have,  with  equal  wis- 
dom, provided  for  the  return  of  that  little  to  their  own 
hunds  at  very  short  intervals.  While  the  people  retain 
their  virtue  and  vigilance,  no  administration,  by  any  ex- 
treme wickedness  or  folly,  can  very  seriously  injure  the 
Government  in  the  short  space  of  four  years. 

"  My  countrymen,  one  and  all,  think  calmly  and  well 
upon  this  whole  subject.  Nothing  valuable  can  be  lost 
by  taking  time. 

"  If  there  be  an  object  to  hurry  any  of  you,  in  hot  haste, 
to  a  step  which  you  would  never  take  deliberately,  that 
object  will  be  frustrated  by  taking  time  ;  but  no  good 
object  can  be  frustrated  by  it. 

"Such  of  you  as  are  now  dissatisfied  still  have  the  old 
Constitution  unimpaired,  and  on  the  sensitive  point,  the 
laws  of  your  own  framing  under  it ;  while  the  new  ad- 
ministration will  have  no  immediate  power,  if  it  would, 
to  change  either. 

"If  it  were  admitted  that  you  who  are  dissatisfied  hold 
the  right  side  in  the  dispute,  tliere  is  still  no  single 
reason  for  precipitate  action.  Intelligence,  patriotism, 
Christianity,  and  a  firm  reliance  on  Him  who  has  never 
yet  forsaken  this  favored  land,  are  still  competent  to 
adjust  in  the  best  way  all  our  present  difficulties. 


128  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

"In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow-countrymen,  and 
not  in  mine,  is  the  momentous  issue  of  civil  war.  The 
Government  will  not  assail  you. 

"You  can  have  no  conflict  without  being  yourselves 
the  aggressors.  You  have  no  oath  registered  in  heaven 
to  destroy  the  Government,  while  I  shall  have  the  most 
solemn  one  to  '  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  it.' 

"  I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends. 
We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have 
strained,  it  must  not  break,  our  bonds  of  affection. 

"  The  mystic  cords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every 
battle-field  and  patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart  and 
hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the 
chorus  of  the  Union  when  again  touched,  as  surely  they 
will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature." 

Inaugural  addresses  had  been  written  by  all  his 
predecessors ;  but,  in  scarcely  a  month  from  the  time 
when  he  delivered  that  address,  the  President  had  occa- 
sion to  write  a  paper  differing  from  any  they  had  ever 
written.  It  was  a  call  for  troops,  and  summoned  Con- 
gress to  assemble  ;  for  civil  war  had  begun.  How  many 
tears  greeted  that  paper,  as  hearts  that  shrank  from 
scenes  of  carnage  pictured  to  themselves,  as  they  read 
it,  the  horrors  of  a  war  which  seemed  inevitable  ! 

PROCLAMATION. 

Whereas  the  laws  of  the  United  States  have  been 
for  some  time  past,  and  now  are,  opposed,  and  the  execu- 
tion thereof  obstructed,  in  the  States  of  South  Carolina, 
Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and 
Texas,  by  combinations  too  powerful  to  be  suppressed  by 
the  ordinary  course  of  judicial  proceedings,  or  by  the 
power  vested  in  the  marshals  by  law :  now  therefore,  I, 


REMARKABLE  DOCUMENTS.  129 

A.BRAHAJH  LINCOLN,  President  of  the  United  States,  in 
virtue  of  the  power  in  me  vested  by  the  Constitution 
and  the  laws,  have  thought  fit  to  call  forth,  and  hereby 
do  call  forth,  the  militia  of  the  several  States  of  the 
Union,  to  the  aggregate  number  of  75,000,  in  order  to 
suppress  said  combinations,  and  to  cause  the  laws  to  be 
duly  executed. 

The  details  for  this  object  will  be  immediately  com- 
municated to  the  State  authorities  through  the  War  De- 
partment. I  appeal  to  all  loyal  citizens  to  favor,  facili- 
tate, and  aid  this  effort  to  maintain  the  honor,  the  integ- 
rity, and  existence  of  our  National  Union,  and  the 
perpetuity  of  popular  government,  and  to  redress 
wrongs  already  long  enough  endured.  I  deem  it  proper 
to  say  that  the  first  service  assigned  to  the  forces  hereby 
called  forth  will  probably  be  to  repossess  the  forts, 
places,  and  property  which  have  been  seized  from  the 
Union ;  and  in  every  event  the  utmost  care  will  be  ob- 
served, consistently  with  the  objects  aforesaid,  to  avoid 
any  devastation,  any  destruction  of  or  interference  with 
property,  or  any  disturbance  of  peaceful  citizens  of  any 
part  of  the  country  ;  and  I  hereby  command  the  persons 
composing  the  combinations  aforesaid  to  disperse  and 
retire  peaceably  to  their  respective  abodes  within 
twenty  days  from  this  date. 

Deeming  that  the  present  condition  of  public  affairs 
presents  an  extraordinary  occasion,  I  do  hereby,  in  vir- 
tue of  the  power  in  me  vested  by  the  Constitution,  con- 
vene both  Ilouses  of  Congress.  The  senators  and  rep- 
resentatives are,  therefore,  summoned  to  assemble  at 
their  respective  chambers  at  twelve  o'clock  noon,  on 
Thursday,  the  fourth  day  of  July  next,  then  and  there 
to  consider  and  determine  such  measures  as,  in  their 
wisdom,  the  public  safety  and  interest  seem  to  demand. 


130  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand,  and 
caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington,  this  fifteenth  day  of 
April,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  sixty-one,  and  of  the  independence  of  the 

United  States  the  eighty-fifth. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
By  the  President : 

WILLIAM  II.  SEWARD,  Secretary  of  State. 

This  proclamation  was  followed  by  one  ordering  the 
blockade  of  the  Southern  ports,  and  issued  on  the  day 
when  the  first  blood  was  shed  for  Liberty  and  Union. 

Subsequently,  the  President  sent  the  following  letter 
(interesting  particularly  as  showing  his  modesty  and 
peace-loving  spirit)  to  the  Governor  of  Maryland  and 
the  Mayor  of  Baltimore  :  — 

WASHINGTON,  April  20,  1861. 

GOVERNOR  HICKS  AND  MAYOR  BROWN.  Gentlemen, — 
Your  letter  by  Messrs.  Bond,  Dobbin,  and  Brome,  is 
received.  I  tender  you  both  my  sincere  thanks  for  your 
efforts  to  keep  the  peace  in  the  trying  situation  in  which 
you  are  placed.  For  the  future,  troops  must  be  brought 
here ;  but  I  make  no  point  of  bringing  them  through 
Baltimore. 

Without  any  military  knowledge  myself,  of  course  I 
must  leave  details  to  Gen.  Scott.  He  hastily  said  this 
morning,  in  presence  of  those  gentlemen,  '  March  them 
around  Baltimore,  and  not  through  it.' 

I  sincerely  hope  the  general,  on  fuller  reflection,  will 
consider  this  practical  and  proper,  and  that  you  will  not 
object  to  it.  By  this  a  collision  of  the  people  of  Balti- 
more with  the  troops  will  be  avoided,  unless  they  go  out 


REMARKABLE   DOCUMENTS.  131 

of  the  way  to  seek  it.  I  hope  you  will  exert  your  influ- 
ence to  prevent  this.  Now  and  ever,  I  shall  do  all  in  my 
power  for  peace,  consistently  with  the  maintenance  of 
government.  Your  obedient  servant, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

In  July,  the  President  sent  his  first  message  to  Con- 
gress,—  an  interesting  document,  but  too  long  to  be  in- 
serted here.  In  it  he  remarked  forcibly,  "  The  Union 
must  be  preserved,  and  hence  all  indispensable  means 
must  be  employed."  It  may  be,  that,  even  then,  he  was 
looking  forward  to  a  day  when  he  might  pronounce  sla- 
very at  an  end  in  the  United  States ;  for  "  there  yet 
remains  in  the  minds  of  men  who  were  acquainted  with 
Mr.  Lincoln  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  1861  the  recol- 
lection of  expressions  made  by  him,  which  indicate  that 
there  were  then  vague  thoughts  in  his  mind  that  it  might 
be  his  lot  under  Providence  to  bring  the  slaves  of  the 
country  out  of  their  bondage."* 

On  the  12th  of  August,  the  President  issued  a  pro- 
clamation, eminently  appropriate  in  expression,  and 
Christian  in  tone,  for  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer,  as 
follows :  — 

"  Wliereas  a  joint  committee  of  both  Houses  of  Con- 
gress has  waited  on  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  requested  him  to  '  recommend  a  day  of  public 
humiliation,  prayer,  and  fasting,  to  be  observed  by  the 
people  of  the  United  States  with  religious  solemnities, 
and  the  offering  of  fervent  supplications  to  Almighty 
God  for  the  safety  and  welfare  of  these  States,  his 
blessing  on  their  arms,  and  a  speedy  restoration  of 
peace ; ' - 

"  And  whereas  it  is  fit  and  becoming  in  all  people,  at 

•  Ex-Goveriior  Boutwell't  Eulogy. 


132  AKR  All  AM   LINCOLN. 

all  times,  to  acknowledge  and  revere  the  supreme  gov- 
ernment of  God;  to  bow  in  humble  submission  to  hia 
chastisements ;  to  confess  and  deplore  their  sins  and 
transgressions,  in  the  full  conviction  that  the  fear  of 
the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom,  and  to  pray,  with 
all  fervency  and  contrition,  for  the  pardon  of  their  past 
offences,  and  for  a  blessing  upon  their  present  ard 
prospective  action ;  — 

"And  whereas,  when  our  own  beloved  country,  once, 
by  the  blessing  of  God,  united,  prosperous,  and  happy, 
is  now  afflicted  with  faction  and  civil  war,  it  is  peculiarly 
fit  for  us  to  recognize  the  hand  of  God  in  this  terrible 
visitation,  and  in  sorrowful  remembrance  of  our  own 
faults  and  crimes  as  a  nation,  and  as  individuals,  to 
humble  ourselves  before  him,  and  to  pray  for  his 
mercy ;  to  pray  that  we  may  be  spared  further  punish- 
ment, though  most  justly  deserved ;  that  our  arms  may 
be  blessed,  and  made  effectual  for  the  re-establishment 
of  law,  order,  and  peace  throughout  the  wide  extent  of 
our  country ;  and  that  the  inestimable  boon  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  earned  under  his  guidance  and  blessing 
by  the  labors  and  sufferings  of  our  fathers,  may  be  re- 
stored in  all  its  original  excellence :  — 

"  Therefore  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the 
United  States,  do  appoint  the  last  Thursday  in  Sep- 
tember next  as  a  day  of  humiliation,  prayer,  and  fasting 
for  all  the  people  of  the  nation.  And  I  do  earnestly 
recommend  to  all  the  people,  and  especially  to  all  minis- 
ters and  teachers  of  religion  of  all  denominations,  and  to 
all  heads  of  families,  to  observe  and  keep  that  day  ac- 
cording to  their  several  creeds  and  modes  of  worship,  in 
all  humility,  and  with  all  religious  solemnity,  to  the  end 
that  the  united  prayer  of  the  nation  may  ascend  to  the 
throne  of  Grace,  and  bring  down  plentiful  blessings 
upon  our  country. 


REMARKABLE  DOCUMENTS.  J33 

"  In  testimony  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand, 

and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be 

[L.  s.]  affixed,  this  twelfth  day  of  August,  A.D.  1861,  and 

of  the   independence   of  the   United   States   of 

America  the  eighty-sixth. 

"ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
"  By  the  President : 

"  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD,  Secretary  of  State" 

The  day  was  duly  kept,  and  fervent  prayers  ascended, 
asking  safety  for  the  nation,  and  wisdom  for  its  head. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  same  month,  Gen.  Fremont  de- 
clared martial  law  in  Missouri,  and  ordered  the  property 
of  secessionists  to  be  confiscated,  and  their  slaves  to  be 
declared  free  men  ;  but  the  President  deemed  it  his  duty 
to  so  modify  the  order  to  liberate  and  confiscate,  as  not 
to  have  Gen.  Fremont  transcend  the  provisions  on  that 
theme  contained  in  a  Congressional  act  just  passed.  Mr. 
Lincoln  has  been  much  censured  for  this ;  but  he  acted 
according  to  his  best  judgment.  He  did  not  think  the 
times  were  ripe  for  such  a  noble  act  of  mercy  and  justice. 

In  December  he  sent  another  message  to  Congress, 
which  was  an  eminently  conservative  document,  and  gave 
satisfaction  to  all  loyal  hearts. 

In  March  following  he  sent  another  message,  recom- 
mending gradual  emancipation;  and  on  the  16th  of  April, 
1862,  he  consummated  an  act  which  had  for  many  years 
been  one  of  his  most  favorite  projects  by  sending  into 
Congress  the  following  message,  announcing  that  his 
signature  was  affixed  to  the  document  which  abolished 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia:  — 

"  FELLOW-CITIZENS  OP  THE  SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OP 
REPRESENTATIVES,  —  The  act  entitled  'An  act  for  the 


134  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

release  of  certain  persons  held  to  service  or  labor  in 
the  District  of  Columbia '  has  this  day  been  approved 
and  signed. 

"  I  have  never  doubted  the  constitutional  authority  of 
Congress  to  abolish  slavery  in  this  District,  and  I  have 
ever  desired  to  see  the  national  capital  freed  from  the 
institution  in  some  satisfactory  way.  Hence  there  has 
npver  been  in  my  mind  any  question  upon  the  subject, 
except  the  one  of  expediency,  arising  in  view  of  all  the 
circumstances.  If  there  be  matters  within  and  about 
this  act  which  might  have  taken  a  course  or  shape  more 
satisfactory  to  my  judgment,  I  do  not  attempt  to  specify 
them.  I  am  gratified  that  the  two  principles  of  compen- 
sation and  colonization  are  both  recognized  and  practi- 
cally applied  in  the  act. 

"  In  the  matter  of  compensation,  it  is  provided  that 
claims  may  be  presented  within  ninety  days  from  the 
passage  of  the  act,  but  not  thereafter ;  and  there  is  no 
saving  for  minors,  femmes  coverts,  insane,  or  absent  per- 
sons. I  presume  this  is  an  omission  by  mere  oversight; 
and  I  recommend  that  it  be  supplied  by  an  amendatory 
or  supplemental  act.  "  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN." 

The  friends  of  freedom  everywhere  rejoiced  when  this 
good  deed  was  done  ;  and  Wlrittier,  the  "  poet  of  the 
slave,"  poured  out  his  soul  in  rhythmic  words  of  exultant 
joy.  Still,  though  the  President  looked  toward  a  day 
of  freedom,  in  his  opinion  the  hour  had  not  struck  in 
the  belfry  of  the  ages  ;  and,  therefore,  when  Gen.  Hun- 
ter, like  Gen.  Fremont,  transcended  his  powers  in  issu- 
ing an  emancipation  order,  the  President  repudiated  it 
in  the  following  document :  — 

"  Whereas  there  appears  in  the  public  prints  what 
purports  to  be  a  proclamation  of  Major-Gen.  Hunter, 
in  the  words  and  figures  following  ;  to  wit, — 


REMARKABLE  DOCUMENTS.  135 

"  HEADQUARTERS,  DEPARTMENT  or  THE  SOUTH, 
HILTON  HEAD,  S.C.,  May  9,  1862. 

"GENERAL  ORDERS,  No.  11. 

"  The  three  States  of  Georgia,  Florida,  and  South 
Carolina,  comprising  the  Military  Department  of  the 
South,  having  deliberately  declared  themselves  no  longer 
under  the  protection  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
and  having  taken  up  arms  against  the  said  United  States, 
it  becomes  a  military  necessity  to  declare  them  under 
martial  law.  This  was  accordingly  done  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  day  of  April,  1862.  Slavery  and  martial  law  in  a 
free  country  are  altogether  incompatible.  The  persons 
in  these  three  States,  Georgia,  Florida,  and  South  Caro- 
lina, heretofore  held  as  slaves,  are  therefore  declared  for- 
ever free. 

"  DAVID  HUNTER,  Major -Gen.  Commanding. 

"  Official : 

"  ED.  W.  SMITH,  Acting  Asist.  Adj. -Gen. 

"  And  whereas  the  same  is  producing  some  excite- 
ment and  misunderstanding:  — 

"  Therefore  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  Unit- 
ed States,  proclaim  and  declare  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  had  no  knowledge  or  belief  of  an 
intention  on  the  part  of  Gen.  Hunter  to  issue  such  a 
proclamation,  nor  has  it  yet  any  authentic  information 
that  the  document  is  genuine  ;  and  further,  that  neither 
Gen.  Hunter,  nor  any  other  commander  or  person,  has 
been  authorized  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
to  make  proclamation  declaring  the  slaves  of  any  State 
free ;  and  that  the  supposed  proclamation  now  in  ques- 
tion, whether  genuine  or  false,  is  altogether  void,  so  far 
as  respects  such  declaration. 

"  I  further  make  known,  that  whether  it  be  competent 


136  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

for  me,  as  Commander-in-chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  to 
declare  the  slaves  of  any  State  or  States  free,  and 
whether  at  any  time,  or  in  any  case,  it  shall  have  become 
a  necessity  indispensable  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Gov- 
ernment to  exercise  such  supposed  power,  are  questions 
which,  under  my  responsibility,  I  reserve  to  myself,  and 
which  I  cannot  feel  justified  in  leaving  to  the  decision 
of  commanders  in  the  field.  These  are  totally  different 
questions  from  those  of  police  regulations  in  armies  and 
camps. 

"  On  the  sixth  day  of  March  last,  by  a  special  message, 
I  recommended  to  Congress  the  adoption  of  a  joint  reso- 
lution, to  be  substantially  as  follows  :  — 

"'Resolved,  That  the  United  States  ought  to  co- 
operate with  any  State  which  may  adopt  a  gradual 
abolishment  of  slavery,  giving  to  such  State  in  its  dis- 
cretion to  compensate  for  the  inconveniences,  public  and 
private,  produced  by  such  change  of  system.' 

"  The  resolution,  in  the  language  above  quoted,  was 
adopted  by  large  majorities  in  both  branches  of  Con- 
gress, and  now  stands  an  authentic,  definite,  and  solemn 
proposal  of  the  nation  to  the  States  and  people  most  im- 
mediately interested  in  the  subject-matter.  To  the  peo- 
ple of  these  States  I  now  earnestly  appeal.  I  do  not 
argue :  I  beseech  you  to  make  the  arguments  for  your- 
selves. You  cannot,  if  you  would,  be  blind  to  the  signs 
of  the  times.  I  beg  of  you  a  calm  and  enlarged  con- 
sideration of  them,  ranging,  if  it  may  be,  far  above  per- 
sonal and  partisan  politics.  This  proposal  makes  common 
cause  for  a  common  object,  casting  no  reproaches  upon 
any.  It  acts  not  the  Pharisee.  The  change  it  contem- 
plates would  come  gently  as  the  dews  of  heaven,  not 
rending  or  wrecking  any  thing.  Will  you  not  embrace 
1  ?  So  much  good  has  not  been  done  by  one  effort  ij) 


REMARKABLE  DOCUMENTS.  137 

all  past  time,  as,  in  the  providence  of  God,  it  is  now  your 
high  privilege  to  do.  May  the  vast  future  not  have  to 
lament  that  you  have  neglected  it ! 

"In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand, 

9  +/ 

and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

"  Done  at  the  city  of  Washington,  this  nineteenth  day 
of  May,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  sixty-two,  and  of  the  independence  of  the  Unit- 
ed States  the  eighty-sixth. 

"ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
"  By  the  President : 

"  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD,  Secretary  of  State." 

On  the  22d  of  September,  Mr.  Lincoln  issued  one  of 
the  two  most  important  proclamations  ever  issued  in  our 
country.  It  announced  to  the  slaves,  who  had  been  look- 
ing for  the  great  jubilee,  and  felt  that 

"'Twas  long,  long,  long  on  the  way ," 

that,  on  the  coming  New-Year's  Day, he  should  pronounce 
them  free.  What  human  pen  or  voice  can  express  the 
joy  with  which  the  announcement  was  hailed  by  the 
enslaved  of  our  land  ?  It  was  as  follows :  — 

"  I  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  and  Commander-in-chief  of  the  Army  and 
Navy  thereof,  do  hereby  proclaim  and  declare  that  here- 
after, as  heretofore,  the  war  will  be  prosecuted  for  the 
object  of  practically  restoring  the  constitutional  relation 
between  the  United  States  and  the  people  thereof  in 
those  States  in  which  that  relation  is  or  may  be  sus- 
pended or  disturbed;  that  it  is  my  purpose,  upon  the 
next  meeting  of  Congress,  to  again  recommend  the  adop- 
tion of  a  practical  measure  tendering  pecuniary  aid  to 
the  free  acceptance  or  rejection  of  all  the  slave  States, 


138  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

so  called,  the  people  whereof  may  not  then  be  in  rebel 
lion  against  the  United  States,  and  which  States  may 
then  have  voluntarily  adopted,  or  thereafter  may  volun- 
tarily adopt,  the  immediate  or  gradual  abolishment  of 
slavery  within  their  respective  limits;  and  that  the  effort 
to  colonize  persons  of  African  descent,  with  their  con- 
sent, upon  the  continent  or  elsewhere,  with  the  pre- 
viously obtained  consent  of  the  government  existing 
there,  will  be  continued  ;  that  on  the  first  day  of  Jan- 
uary, in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  sixty-three,  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within 
any  State,  or  any  designated  part  of  a  State,  the  people 
whereof  shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United 
States,  shall  be  then,  thenceforward, and  forever,free;  and 
the  Executive  Government  of  the  United  States,  includ- 
ing the  military  and  naval  authority  thereof,  will  recog- 
nize and  maintain  the  freedom  of  such  persons,  and  will 
do  no  act  or  acts  to  repress  such  persons,  or  any  of  them, 
in  any  efforts  they  may  make  for  their  actual  freedom ; 
that  the  Executive  will,  on  the  first  day  of  January  afore- 
said, by  proclamation,  designate  the  States,  and  parts  of 
States,  if  any,  in  which  the  people  thereof  respectively 
shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States ;  and 
the  fact  that  any  State,  or  the  people  thereof,  shall  on 
that  day  be  in  good  faith  represented  in  the  Congres3 
of  the  United  States  by  members  chosen  thereto,  at 
elections  wherein  a  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of 
such  State  shall  have  participated,  shall,  in  the  absence 
of  strong  countervailing  testimony,  be  deemed  conclu- 
sive evidence  that  such  State  and  the  people  thereof 
have  not  been  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States. 

"  That  attention  is  hereby  called  to  an  act  of  Congress, 
entitled  'An  act  to  make  an  additional  article  of  war,' 
approved  March  13,  1862,  and  which  act  is  in  the  words 
figures  following  :  — 


REMARKABLE  DOCUMENTS,  139 

" l  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Represent 
tatives  of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  as- 
sembled, That  hereafter  the  following  shall  be  promul- 
gated as  an  additional  article  of  war  for  the  government 
of  the  army  of  the  United  States,  and  shall  be  observed 
and  obeyed  as  such :  — 

"  '  Article  — .  All  officers  or  persons  of  the  military  or 
naval  service  of  the  United  States  are  prohibited  from 
employing  any  of  the  forces  under  their  respective  com- 
mauds  for  the  purpose  of  returning  fugitives  from'  ser- 
vice or  labor  who  may  have  escaped  from  any  persons  to 
whom  such  service  or  labor  is  claimed  to  be  due ;  and 
any  officer  who  shall  be  found  guilty  by  a  court-martial 
of  violating  this  article  shall  be  dismissed  from  the 
service. 

" '  Sect.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  this  act 
shall  take  effect  from  and  after  its  passage.' 

"  Also  to  the  ninth  and  tenth  sections  of  an  act,  enti- 
tled 'An  act  to  suppress  insurrection,  to  punish  treason 
and  rebellion,  to  seize  and  confiscate  property  of  rebels, 
and  for  other  purposes/  approved  July  17,  1862 ;  and 
which  sections  are  in  the  words  and  figures  following:  — 

" '  Sect.  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  slaves 
of  persons  who  shall  hereafter  be  engaged  in  rebellion 
against  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  or  who 
shall  in  any  way  give  aid  or  comfort  thereto,  escaping 
from  such  persons  and  taking  refuge  within  the  lines  of 
the  army,  and  all  slaves  captured  from  such  persons  or 
deserted  by  them,  and  coming  under  the  control  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  and  all  slaves  of  such 
persons  found  on  (or  being  within)  any  place  occupied 
by  rebel  forces  and  afterwards  occupied  by  the  forces  of 
of  the  United  States,  shall  be  deemed  ctiptives  of  war, 
and  shall  be  forever  free  of  their  servitude,  and  not  agaiu 
IjeM  as  slavey. 


140  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

" '  Sect.  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  no  slave 
escaping  into  any  State,  Territory,  or  the  District  of 
Columbia,  from  any  of  the  States,  shall  be  deli/ered  up, 
or  in  any  way  impeded  or  hindered  of  his  liberty,  except 
for  crime,  or  some  offence  against  the  laws,  unless  the 
person  claiming  said  fugitive  shall  first  make  oath  that 
the  person  to  whom  the  labor  or  service  of  such  fugitive 
is  alleged  to  be  due  is  his  lawful  owner,  and  has  not 
been  in  arms  against  the  United  States  in  the  present  Re- 
bellion, nor  in  any  way  given  aid  and  comfort  thereto  ; 
and  no  person  engaged  in  the  military  or  naval  service 
of  the  United  States  shall,  under  any  pretence  whatever, 
assume  to  decide  on  the  validity  of  the  claim  of  any  per- 
son to  the  service  or  labor  of  any  other  person,  or  sur- 
render up  any  such  person  to  the  claimant,  on  pain  of 
being  dismissed  from  the  service.' 

u  And  I  do  hereby  enjoin  upon  and  order  all  persons 
engaged  in  the  military  and  naval  service  of  the  United 
States  to  observe,  obey,  and  enforce,  within  their  respec- 
tive spheres  of  service,  the  act  and  sections  above 
recited. 

"  And  the  Executive  will  in  due  time  recommend  that 
all  citizens  of  the  United  States,  who  shall  have  remained 
loyal  thereto  throughout  the  Rebellion,  shall  (upon  the 
restoration  of  the  constitutional  relation  between  the 
United  States  and  their  respective  States  and  people,  if 
the  relation  shall  have  been  suspended  or  disturbed)  be 
compensated  for  all  losses  by  acts  of  the  United  States, 
including  the  loss  of  slaves. 

"  In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand,  and 
caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

"  Done  at  the  city  of  Washington,  this  twenty-second 
day  of  September,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 


REMARKABLE  DOCUMENTS.  141 

eight  hundred  and  sixty-two,  and  of  the  independence 
of  the  United  States  the  eighty-seventh. 

"ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
t(  By  the  President : 

"  WM.  H.  SEWAED,  Secretary  of  State." 

Then  came,  in  due  season,  the  proclamation,  which 
crowned  its  author  with  immortal  fame,  and  made  millions 
rejoice  on  earth  and  in  heaven.  Then  sang  Whittier, 
and  all  true  hearts  echoed :  — 

"  Ring  and  swing, 

Bells  of  joy  I  on  morning's  wing 
Send  the  song  of  praise  abroad  ; 

With  a  sound  of  broken  chains 
Tell  the  nation  that  He  reigns 

Who  alone  is  Lord  and  God  I " 

The  following  is 

THE  PROCLAMATION. 

"  Whereas  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  September,  jn 
the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
sixty-two,  a  proclamation  was  issued  by  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  containing,  among  other  things,  the 
following ;  to  wit,  — 

"  '  That  on  the  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  all 
persons  held  as  slaves  within  any  State,  or  designated 
part  of  a  State,  the  people  whereof  shall  then  be  in  re- 
bellion against  the  United  States,  shall  be,  then,  thence- 
forth, and  forever,  free ;  and  the  Executive  Government 
of  tho  United  States,  including  the  military  and  naval 
authorities  thereof,  will  recognize  and  maintain  the  free- 
dom of  such  persons,  and  will  do  no  act  or  acts  to  repress 
such  persons,  or  any  of  them,  in  any  efforts  they  may 
make  for  their  actual  freedom;  — 


142  ABRAHAM   LItfCOLtf. 

" l  That  the  Executive  will,  on  the  first  day  of  January 
aforesaid,  by  proclamation,  designate  the  States  and 
parts  of  States,  if  any,  in  which  the  people  therein  re- 
spectively shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United 
States;  and  the  fact  that  any  State,  or  the  people  thereof, 
shall  on  that  day  be  in  good  faith  represented  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  by  members  chosen 
thereto  at  elections  wherein  a  majority  of  the  qualified 
voters  of  such  States  shall  have  participated,  shall,  in 
the  absence  of  strong  countervailing  testimony,  be 
deemed  conclusive  evidence  that  such  State,  and  the 
people  thereof,  are  not  then  in  rebellion  against  the 
United  States: '  — 

"  Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the 
United  States,  by  virtue  of  the  power  in  me  vested  as 
Commander-in-chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United 
States  in  time  of  actual  armed  rebellion  against  the  au- 
thority and  government  of  the  United  States,  and  as  a 
fit  and  necessary  war  measure  for  suppressing  said  rebel- 
lion, do,  on  this  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  and  in 
accordance  with  my  purpose  so  to  do,  publicly  proclaimed 
for  the  full  period  of  one  hundred  days  from  the  day 
of  the  first  above-mentioned  order,  designate  as  the 
States,  and  parts  of  States,  wherein  the  people  thereof 
respectively  are  this  day  in  rebellion  against  the  United 
States,  the  following;  to  wit,  Arkansas,  Texas,  Louisi- 
ana,—  except  the  parishes  of  St.  Bernard,  Plaquemines, 
Jefferson,  St.  John,  St.  Charles,  St.  James,  Ascension, 
Assumption,  Terre  Bonne,  Lafourche,  St.  Mary,  St.  Mar- 
tin, and  Orleans,  including  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  — 
Mississippi,  Alabama,  Florida,  Georgia,  South  Carolina, 
North  Carolina,  and  Virginia,  except  the  forty-eight 
counties  designated  as  West  Virginia,  and  also  the  coun- 


REMARKABLE  DOCUMENTS.  143 

tie»  of  Berkeley,  Accomac,  Northampton,  Elizabeth  City, 
York,  Princess  Ann,  and  Norfolk,  including  the  cities  of 
Norfolk  and  Portsmouth,  and  which  excepted  parts  are, 
for  the  present,  left  precisely  as  if  this  proclamation 
were  not  issued. 

"And  by  virtue  of  the  power,  and  for  the  purpose 
aforesaid,  I  do  order  and  declare  that  all  persons  held  as 
slaves  within  said  designated  States,  and  parts  of  States, 
are,  and  henceforward  shall  be,  free  ;  and  that  the  Execu- 
tive Government  of  the  United  States,  including  the 
military  and  naval  authorities  thereof,  will  recognize  and 
maintain  the  freedom  of  said  persons. 

"  And  I  hereby  enjoin  upon  the  people  so  declared  to 
be  free  to  abstain  from  all  violence,  unless  in  necessary 
self-defence ;  and  I  recommend  to  them,  that  in  all  cases, 
when  allowed,  they  labor  faithfully  for  reasonable  wages. 

"  And  I  further  declare  and  make  known  that  such 
porsons  of  suitable  condition  will  be  received  into  the 
armed  service  of  the  United  States  to  garrison  forts,  po- 
sitions, stations,  and  other  places,  and  to  man  vessels  of 
all  sorts  in  said  service. 

"And  upon  this,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an  act  of  jus- 
tice, warranted  by  the  Constitution,  upon  military  neces- 
sity, I  invoke  the  considerate  judgment  of  mankind  and 
the  gracious  favor  of  Almighty  God. 

"  In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand, 
and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

"  Done  at  the  city  of  Washington,  this  first 
day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one 

[L.  s.]  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  and 
of  the  independence  of  the  United  States  of 
America  the  eighty-seventh. 

"ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
"  By  the  President : 

"  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD  Secretary  of  State." 


144  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

What  is  the  estimate  placed  upon  this  proclamation? 
Hear  the  words  of  him  who  was  about  to  commit  the  re- 
mains of  its  author  to  the  tomb  :  — 

"  The  great  act  of  the  mighty  chieftain,  on  which  his 
fame  shall  rest  long  after  his  frame  shall  moulder  away, 
is  that  of  giving  freedom  to  a  race.  We  have  all  been 
taught  to  revere  the  sacred  characters.  Among  them 
Moses  stand  pre-eminently  high.  He  received  the  law 
from  God,  and  his  name  is  honored  among  the  hosts  of 
heaven.  Was  not  his  greatest  act  the  delivering  of  three 
millions  of  his  kindred  out  of  bondage  ?  Yet  we  may 
assert  that  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  his  proclamation,  liber- 
ated more  enslaved  people  than  ever  Moses  set  free,  and 
those  not  of  his  kindred  or  his  race.  Such  a  power  or 
such  an  opportunity  God  has  seldom  given  to  man. 
When  other  events  shall  have  been  forgotten;  when 
this  world  shall  have  become  a  network  of  republics ; 
when  every  throne  shall  be  swept  from  the  face  of  the 
earth ;  when  literature  shall  enlighten  all  minds ;  when 
the  claims  of  humanity  shall  be  recognized  everywhere ; 
this  act  shall  still  be  conspicuous  in  the  ages  of  history. 
We  are  thankful  that  God  gave  to  Abraham  Lincoln  the 
decision  and  wisdom  and  grace  to  issue  that  proclama- 
tion, which  stands  high  above  all  other  papers  which 
have  been  penned  by  uninspired  men."  * 

President  Lincoln,  as  elsewhere  shown,  had  always 
advocated  freedom  for  all.  He  distinctly  declared  his 
views  in  regard  to  slavery  as  an  evil  which  he  would 
have  been  glad  to  see  removed,  even  if  it  had  not  been 
a  military  necessity  to  pronounce  the  slaves  of  the  ene- 
my free.  He  says  himself,  "I  am  naturally  antislavery. 
If  slavery  is  not  wrong,  nothing  is  wrong.  I  cannot 

*  Bishop  Simpson. 


REMARKABLE  DOCUMENTS.  145 

remember  when  I  did  not  see,  think,  and  feel  that  it  was 
wrong  ;  and  yet  I  have  never  understood  that  the  presi- 
dency conferred  upon  me  an  unrestricted  right  to  act 
officially  upon  this  judgment  and  feeling.  It  was  in  the 
oath  I  took,  that  I  would,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  pre- 
serve, protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  I  could  not  take  the  office  without  taking  the 
oath ;  nor  was  it  in  my  view  that  I  might  take  an  oath  to 
get  power,  and  break  the  oath  in  using  the  power.  I 
understood  too,  that,  in  ordinary  civil  administration, 
this  oath  even  forbade  me  to  practically  indulge  my  pri- 
mary abstract  judgment  on  the  moral  question  of  slave- 
ry. I  had  publicly  declared  this  many  times,  and  in 
many  ways  ;  and  I  aver,  that,  to  this  day,  I  have  done  no 
official  act  in  mere  deference  to  my  abstract  judgment 
and  feeling  on  slavery.  I  did  understand,  however,  that 
my  oath  to  preserve  the  Constitution  to  the  best  of  my 
ability  imposed  upon  me  the  duty  of  preserving,  1-y 
every  indispensable  means,  that  Government,  that  na- 
tion, of  which  that  Constitution  was  the  organic  law." 

We  see  here  the  President's  cautious  adherence  to  the 
path  of  duty.  He  would  not  allow  even  his  convictions 
of  right  under  other  circumstances  to  interfere  with  the 
strict  discharge  of  his  duties  as  President.  When  some 
who  loved  freedom,  and  pitied  the  slave,  urged  upon  him 
a  more  rapid  stride  toward  emancipation,  he  answered 
them  in  the  spirit  of  the  following  letter,  written  by  him 
to  Hon.  Horace  Greeley,  Aug.  22,  1862:- 

"  DEAR  Sm, — I  have  just  read  yours  of  the  19th 
inst.,  addressed  to  myself  through  the  '  New- York  Trib- 
une.' 

"  If  there  be  in  it  any  statements  or  assumptions  of 
fact  which  I  may  know  to  be  erroneous,  I  do  not  now 
and  here  controvert  them. 


146  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

"  If  there  be  any  inferences  which  I  may  believe  to 
be  falsely  drawn,  I  do  not  now  and  here  argue  against 
them. 

"  If  there  be  perceptible  in  it  an  impatient  and  dicta- 
torial tone,  I  waive  it  in  deference  to  an  old  friend  whose 
heart  I  have  always  supposed  to  be  right. 

"  As  to  the  policy  I  seem  to  be  pursuing,  as  you  say, 
I  have  not  meant  to  leave  any  one  in  doubt.  I  would 
save  the  Union.  I  would  save  it  in  the  shortest  way 
under  the  Constitution. 

"  The  sooner  the  national  authority  can  be  restored,  the 
nearer  the  Union  will  be  the  Union  as  it  was. 

"  If  there  be  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union  un- 
less they  could  at  the  same  time  save  slavery,  I  do  not 
agree  with  them. 

"  If  there  be  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union 
unless  they  could  at  the  same  time  destroy  slavery,  I  do 
not  agree  with  them. 

"  My  paramount  object  is  to  save  the  Union,  and  not 
either  to  save  or  destroy  slavery. 

"  If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slave, 
I  would  do  it ;  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves, 
I  would  do  it ;  and  if  I  could  do  it  by  freeing  some,  and 
leaving  others  alone,  I  would  also  do  that. 

"  What  I  do  about  slavery  and  the  colored  race,  I  do 
because  I  believe  it  helps  to  saves  this  Union ;  and  what 
I  forbear,  I  forbear  because  I  do  not  believe  it  would 
help  to  save  the  Union. 

"  I  shall  do  less  whenever  I  shall  believe  what  I  am 
doing  hurts  the  cause,  and  I  shall  do  more  when  I  be- 
lieve doing  more  will  help  the  cause. 

"  I  shall  try  to  correct  errors  when  shown  to  be  errors, 
and  I  shall  adopt  new  views  so  fast  as  they  shall  appear 
to  be  true  views. 


REMARKABLE  DOCUMENTS.  147 

"  I  have  here  stated  my  purpose  according  to  my  views 
of  official  duty ;  and  I  intend  no  modification  of  my  oft- 
expressed  personal  wish,  that  all  men  everywhere  could 
be  free.  "  Yours, 

"A,  LINCOLN." 

Here,  again,  we  see  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent,  and 
the  harmlessness  of  the  dove,  in  the  letter  which  shows 
him  ready  to  follow  the  path  of  duty  whenever  clearly 
seen,  and  that  was  all  the  men  of  any  party  could  right- 
fully ask. 

When  he  could  consistently  plead  for  emancipation, 
how  earnest  and  outspoken  were  his  words  !  In  his  An- 
nual Message  he  said,  4<  We  cannot  escape  history.  We 
of  this  Congress  and  this  Administration  will  be  remem- 
bered in  spite  of  ourselves.  .  .  .  We  say  we  are  for  the 
Union.  The  world  will  not  forget  that  we  say  this.  We 
know  how  to  save  the  Union.  The  world  knows  we 
know  how  to  save  it.  We,  even  we  here,  hold  the  power, 
and  bear  the  responsibility.  In  giving  freedom  to  the 
slave,  we  assure  freedom  to  the  free,  —  honorable  alike 
in  what  we  give  and  what  we  preserve.  We  shall  nobly 
save  or  meanly  lose  the  last  best  hope  of  earth.  Other 
means  may  succeed :  this  could  not,  cannot  fail.  The 
way  is  plain,  peaceful,  generous,  just, —  a  way  which,  if 
followed,  the  world  will  forever  applaud,  and  God  must 
forever  bless." 

The  noble  author  of  a  glorious  proclamation  never  re- 
tracted it,  never  changed  his  views  concerning  it.  In  a 
letter  written  in  August,  1863,  he  said,  referring  to  the 
peace  that  he  expected,  but  hardly  lived  to  see,  "And 
then  there  will  bo  some  black  men  who  can  romembei 
that  with  silent  tongue,  and  clinched  teeth,  and  steady 
eye,  and  well-poised  bayonet,  they  have  helped  mankind 


148  ABRAHAM  LIJVCOLir. 

on  to  this  great  consummation ;  while  I  icar  that  there 
will  be  some  white  men  unable  to  forget,  that,  with  malig- 
nant heart  and  deceitful  speech,  they  have  striven  to 
hinder  it." 

In  his  Annual  Message,  December,  1863,  he  referred 
to  the  success  which  had  attended  the  proclamation  of 
emancipation,  and  added,  "  While  I  remain  in  my  present 
position,  I  shall  not  attempt  to  retract  or  modify  the  Eman- 
cipation Proclamation ;  nor  shall  I  return  to  slavery  any 
person  who  is  free  by  the  terms  of  that  proclamation,  or 
by  any  of  the  acts  of  Congress." 

More  and  more  clearly  will  it  be  seen,  as  time  rolls  on, 
that  the  President  could  not  have  done  his  duty,  and  yet 
have  failed  to  free  the  slave. 

"  Prom  the  first  cannon-shot,  it  was  plain  that  the  Re- 
bellion was  nothing  but  slavery  in  arms ;  but  such  was 
the  power  of  slavery,  even  in  the  free  States,  that  months 
elapsed  before  this  giant  criminal  was  directly  attacked. 
Generals  in  the  field  were  tender  with  regard  to  it,  as  if 
it  were  a  church,  or  a  work  of  the  fine  arts.  It  was  only 
under  the  teaching  of  disaster  that  the  country  was 
aroused.  The  first  step  was  taken  in  Congress  after  the 
defeat  at  Bull  Run.  But  still  the  President  hesitated. 
Disaster  thickened  and  graves  opened,  until,  at  last,  the 
country  saw  that  only  by  justice  could  we  hope  for  di- 
vine favor ;  and  the  President,  who  leaned  so  closely 
upon  the  popular  heart,  pronounced  that  great  word  by 
which  all  slaves  in  the  rebel  States  were  set  free.  Let 
it  be  named  forever  to  his  glory,  that  he  grasped  the 
thunderbolt,  even  though  tardily,  under  which  the  Re- 
bellion staggered  to  its  fall ;  that,  following  up  the  blow, 
he  enlisted  colored  citizens  as  soldiers  in  the  national 
army ;  and  that  he  declared  his  final  purpose  never  to 
retract  or  modify  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  nor  to 


REMARKABLE  DOCUMENTS.  149 

return  into  slavery  any  person  free  by  the  terms  of  that 
instrument,  or  by  any  of  the  acts  of  Congress,  saying 
loftily,  'If  the  people  should,  by  whatever  mode  or 
means,  make  it  an  executive  duty  to  re-enslave  such 
persons,  another,  and  not  I,  must  be  the  instrument  to 
perform  it.' 

"  It  was  sometimes  said  that  the  proclamation  was  of 
doubtful  constitutionality.  If  this  criticism  did  not  pro- 
ceed from  sympathy  with  slavery,  it  evidently  proceeded 
fomthe  prevailing  superstition  with  regard  to  this  idol. 
Future  jurists  will  read  with  astonishment  that  once  a  fla- 
grant wrong  could  be  considered  at  any  time  as  having  any 
rights  which  a  court  was  bound  to  respect,  and  especial- 
ly that  rebels  in  arms  could  be  considered  as  having  any 
title  to  the  services  of  people  whose  allegiance  was  pri- 
marily due  to  the  United  States.  But,  turning  from 
these  conclusions,  it  seems  to  be  plain,  that  slavery, 
which  stood  exclusively  on  local  law,  without  any  support 
in  natural  law,  must  have  fallen  with  the  local  govern- 
ment, both  legally  and  constitutionally  :  legally,  inasmuch 
as  it  ceased  to  have  any  valid  legal  support ;  and  consti- 
tutionally, inasmuch  as  it  came  at  once  within  the  exclu- 
sive jurisdiction  of  the  Constitution,  where  liberty  is  the 
prevailing  law.  The  President  did  not  act  upon  these 
principles;  but,  speaking  with  the  voice  of  authority,  he 
said, '  Let  the  slaves  be  free !  '  What  Court  and  Con- 
gress hesitated  to  declare,  ho  proclaimed,  and  thus 
enrolled  himself  among  the  world's  emancipators."  * 

Little  did  that  gentle  mother,  long  vanished  from  her 
dear  son's  earthly  path,  imagine,  when  she  so  desired  that 
he  should  learn  to  read  and  write,  that  his  pen  would  ever 
trace  such  life-giving,  joy-inspiring  words.  Glad  heartd 

*  lion.  Charles  Sumner. 


150  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

everywhere  among  true  men  and  women  welcomed  (he 
glorious  decree.  The  pencil  of  the  artist*  and  the  pen 
of  the  poetf  vied  in  commemorating  the  event,  and  ex- 
pressing their  exultant  joy;  and  human  eloquence  is 
powerless  to  express  the  blissful  gratitude  with  which 
it  was  received  by  the  long-oppressed  race  whom  it  lifted 
from  the  degradation  of  slavery  to  the  glorious  heights 
of  freedom. 

No  document  can  tower  above  the  last  mentioned;  for 
its  altitude  will  remain  unsurpassed,  till,  in  the  fulness  of 
God's  time,  the  chains  of  sin  shall  be  broken,  evil  shall 
be  overcome  with  good,  and  the  proclamation  of  uni- 
versal freedom  from  sin  and  sorrow  shall  be  uttered  in 
the  words,  "  The  kingdoms  of  this  world  have  become 
the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ,"  and  "  God 
shall  be  all  and  in  all." 

This  chapter  may  fittingly  close  with  a  document,  than 
which  none  more  chaste  and  beautiful  in  style  can  be 
found.  It  is  a  proclamation  for  a  day  of  thanksgiving. 
One  has  already  been  given  which  proclaimed  a  day  of  fast- 
ing. A  proclamation,  recommending  that  the  people  in- 

*  W.  T.  Carleton  of  Loston  painted  an  exquisite  picture,  entitled  "  Waiting 
for  the  Hour,"  depicting  their  anxiety  who  waited  for  the  time  when  the  chains 
would  fall  as  the  proclamation  came  in  force  on  the  first  day  of  January, 
1863.  This  picture  was  afterward  presented  to  President  Lincoln. 

t  Among  other  hearty  tributes  to  the  President  was  one  entitled  "  God  bless 
Abraham  Lincoln !  "  It  was  written  by  Mrs.  Caroline  A.  Ma<*on,  whose  touch- 
Ing  song,  "  Do  they  miss  me  at  home?  "  has  been  sung  by  Union  soldiers  with 
tearful  eyes  beside  many  a  camp-fire  and  in  many  a  hospital.  Her  poem  closei 
thus:  — 

"  God  bless  him :  can  we  more  ?    In  this, 
The  perfectiiess  of  human  bliss, 
All  joy,  all  peace,  all  fulness  is. 

And  so  God  bless  him !  Once  again 
Take  up  the  burden,  voice  and  pen, 
Wh/le  all  the  people  say, '  Amen  I '  " 


REMARKABLE  DOCUMENTS.  151 

formally  assemble  and  thank  God  for  victories  in  East 
Tennessee,  was  issued  in  December,  1863.  One  to 
which  allusion  is  here  specially  made  was  as  follows:  — 

"  It  has  pleased  Almighty  God  to  hearken  to  the  sup- 
plications and  prayers  of  an  afflicted  people,  and  to 
vouchsafe  to  the  army  and  the  navy  of  the  United  States, 
on  the  land  and  on  the  sea,  victories  so  signal  and  so  effec- 
tive as  to  furnish  reasonable  grounds  for  augmented 
confidence  that  the  union  of  these  States  will  be  main- 
tained, their  constitutions  preserved,  and  their  peace 
and  prosperity  permanently  preserved. 

"  But  these  victories  have  been  accorded  not  without 
sacrifice  of  life,  limb,  and  liberty,  incurred  by  the  brave, 
patriotic,  and  loyal  citizens.  Domestic  affliction  in  every 
part  of  the  country  follows  in  the  train  of  these  fearful  be- 
reavements. It  is  meet  and  right  to  recognize  and  con- 
fess the  presence  of  the  Almighty  Father,  and  the  power 
of  his  hand,  equally  in  these  triumphs  and  these  sor- 
rows. 

"  Now,  therefore,  be  it  known  that  I  do  set  apart 
Thursday,  the  sixth  day  of  August  next,  to  be  observed 
as  a  day  for  national  thanksgiving,  praise,  and  prayer  : 
and  I  invite  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  assemble 
on  that  occasion  in  their  customary  places  of  worship, 
and,  in  the  forms  approved  by  their  own  conscience,  ren- 
der the  homage  due  to  the  Divine  Majesty  for  the  won- 
derful things  he  has  done  in  the  nation's  behalf,  and  in- 
voke the  influence  of  his  Etafy  Spirit  to  subdue  the 
anger  which  has  produced  and  so  long  sustained  a  need- 
less and  cruel  rebellion  ;  to  change  the  hearts  of  tho 
insurgents ;  to  guide  the  counsels  of  the  Government 
with  wisdom  adequate  to  so  great  a  national  emergency ; 
and  to  visit  with  tender  care  and  consolation,  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  our  land,  all  those  who,  through 


152  ABRAHAM  LINCOLJT. 

the  vicissitudes  of  marches,  voyages,  battles,  and  sieges> 
have  been  brought  to  suffer  in  mind,  body,  or  estate,  and 
family  ;  to  lead  the  whole  nation  through  paths  of  repent- 
ance, and  submission  to  the  Divine  Will,  back  to  the 
perfect  enjoyment  of  union  and  fraternal  peace. 

"  In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand, 
and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

"  Done  at  the  city  of  Washington,  this  15th  day  of 
July,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  sixty-three,  and  of  the  independence  of  the 
United  States  of  America  the  eighty-eighth. 

"•ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
"  By  the  President : 

"  WILLIAM  F.  SEWAED,  Secretary  of  State." 

The  documents  contained  in  this  chapter  form  a  part 
of  our  national  history,  which  no  true  American  will  ever 
ponder  but  with  pride  and  satisfaction.  All  of  them  had 
immediate  results  that  were  glorious  and  salutary ;  and 
one  at  least  of  them  will  exert  an  influence  grand  and 
far-reaching  as  the  march  of  Time,  like  to  the  echo  of 
God's  voice  of  promise  and  hope  amid  the  bowers  of 
Eaen,  which  will  extend  till  the  answering  anthem  of  a 
redeemed  world  and  a  rejoicing  universe  shall  rise  "  to 
Him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  to  the  Lamb  for 
ever." 


CHAPTER    IX. 

ANECDOTES. 

"  Thereby  hangs  a  tale."  — SHAKSPEABE. 
•  A  word  fitly  spoken  is  like  apples  of  gold  in  pictures  of  silver."  —  PROV.  xxv.  ^ 

THEBE  is  a  time  to  laugh,  as  well  as  a  time  to  weep,  if 
we  may  credit  the  wise  man  ;  and,  of  the  two,  the  smile 
is  to  be  preferred  to  the  tear,  since  it  will  help  to  send 
more  sunshine  abroad  in  a  world  where  needed  spiritual 
discipline,  in  consequence  of  sin,  must  bring  many  shad- 
ows. Jacob  Abbott  has  taught  his  thousands  of  readers 
that  "  cheerfulness  is  a  duty;"  and  one  may  well  suspect 
the  long  face  of  covering  a  bad  heart.  "  Other  things 
being  equal,"  the  truest  Christian  is  the  most  cheerful 
one ;  and  that  man  or  woman  is  highly  favored  who  has 
received  that  inheritance  of  mirthfulness  which  enables 
him  without  effort  to  "  look  on  the  bright  side." 

President  Lincoln  was  far  from  being  a  mirthful  man, 
in  one  sense;  overflowing  with  fun  and  jollity.  He  had 
borne  too  many  burdens  not  to  have  lost  some  elasticity 
of  spirit ;  and  the  natural  buoyancy  of  youth  was,  as  we 
know,  early  lessened  by  the  loss  of  his  almost  idolized 
mother.  Moreover,  later  life  had  brought  those  peculiar 
trials  we  have  mentioned  ;  and  one  would  hardly  expect 
to  see  in  President  Lincoln  the  sportive,  careless,  mirth- 
ful Donatello  whom  Hawthorne  pictured  ere  he  passed 
away.*  Nor  would  we  like  to  see  the  restless  buoyancy 
of  excessive  animal  spirits  in  one  occupying  the  position 
of  the  nation's  head. 

•  "  Marble  Fauu." 


154  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

President  Lincoln  had  the  happy  medium.  He  was 
cheerful  without  levity,  as  he  was  ofttimes  sad  without 
being  misanthropic.  Emerson  says  of  him,  "  His  broad 
good  humor,  running  easily  into  jocular  talk,  in  which 
he  delighted,  and  in  which  he  excelled,  was  a  rich  gift 
to  this  wise  man.  It  enabled  him  to  keep  his  secret ; 
to  meet  every  kind  of  man,  and  every  rank  in  society  ;  to 
take  off  the  edge  of  the  severest  decisions ;  to  mask  his 
own  purpose,  arid  sound  his  companion,  and  to  catch  with 
true  instinct  the  temper  of  every  company  he  addressed. 
And,  more  than  all,  it  is  to  a  man  of  severe  labor,  in 
anxious  and  exhausting  crises,  the  natural  restorative, 
good  as  sleep,  and  is  the  protection  of  the  over-driven 
brain  against  rancor  and  insanity. 

"  He  is  the  author  of  a  multitude  of  good  sayings,  so 
disguised  as  pleasantries,  that  it  is  certain  they  had  no 
reputation  at  first  but  as  jests;  and  only  later,  by  the  very 
acceptance  and  adoption  they  find  in  the  mouths  of  mil- 
lions, turn  out  to  be  the  wisdom  of  the  hour.  I  am  sure, 
if  this  man  had  ruled  in  a  period  of  less  facility  of  print- 
ing, he  would  have  become  mythological  in  a  very  few 
years,  like  ^Esop  or  Pilpay,  or  one  of  the  Seven  Wise 
Masters,  by  his  fables  and  proverbs." 

His  cheerfulness  of  demeanor,  and  speech,  sometimes 
led  strangers  into  an  error  in  regard  to  him.  They 
thought  him  too  careless  of  the  dignity  which  belonged 
to  his  position ;  but  they  could  not  say  he  neglected  the 
"  weightier  matters  of  the  law,"  even  if  he  did  some- 
times seem  to  omit  the  "  tithes  of  mint,  anise,  and 
cumin." 

One  who  knew  him  well*  thus  renders  testimony  to 
the  excellence  of  his  character  even  in  these  particu 
lars :  — 

*  Col.  Doming. 


ANECDOTES.  155 

"  He  was  not  over-careful  of  his  dignity,  feeling  as- 
sured that  his  dignity  would  take  care  of  itself;  and  con- 
senting to  rend  the  web  of  official  formalities,  and  to 
waive  all  ceremony  and  precedence  which  might  bar  his 
passage  to  a  good  deed  by  the  most  expeditious  route, 
lie  has  been  convicted,  in  contempt  of  'the  divinity 
which  doth  hedge  a  king,'  of  conferring  with  his  coun- 
sellors in  a  great  emergency,  and  of  performing  an  act 
of  kindness  and  mercy,  enveloped  in  no  robe  of  state 
but  a  cotton  night-gown  of  scanty  proportions ;  and  on 
one  memorable  occasion  he  even  presumed  to  solve  an 
enigma,  raised  in  a  congress  of  ambassadors,  by  the  little 
story  of  'root,  hog,  or  die.'  He  was  what  Dr.  Johnson 
calls  a  thoroughly  '  clubbable '  man ;  eminently  social  and 
familiar;  in  private  interviews,  and  sometimes  in  public, 
overflowing  with  illustrations  of  every  theme  ;  always  apt 
and  racy,  and  frequently  humorous,  with  a  habit,  like  the 
doctor  himself,  of  upsetting  a  pedantry  or  a  sophism  by 
an  epigram  or  an  anecdote,  and  with  a  story-telling 
method  of  reasoning  like  our  own  Dr.  Franklin.  While 
unrivalled  as  a  raconteur  in  the  pith  and  variety  of  his 
store,  he  was  not  half  so  broad  in  his  narrations  as  many 
an  unassuming  Chesterfield  on  both  sides  of  the  water. 
...  I  can  adopt  and  indorse  the  precise  language  of  Mr. 
F.  B.  Carpenter,  who,  as  an  artist,  had  free  access  to  Mr. 
Lincoln's  presence,  and  was  for  several  months  an  inmate 
of  the  White  House,  when  ho  says,  '  I  feel  that  it  is  due 
to  Mr.  Lincoln's  memory  to  state,  that  during  my  resi- 
dence in  Washington,  after  witnessing  his  intercourse 
with  all  classes  of  people,  including  governors,  senators, 
members  of  Congress,  officers  of  the  army,  and  familiar 
friends,  I  cannot  recollect  to  have  heard  him  relate  a  cir- 
cumstance to  any  one  of  them  all  that  would  have  been 
out  of  place  if  uttered  in  a  lady's  drawing-room.'  " 


158  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

The  same  gentleman  speaks  of  an  interview  which  he 
had  with  the  President  just  after  Gen.  Fremont  had 
declined  to  run  against  him  for  the  presidency;  and  says, 
"  The  magnificent  Bible  which  the  negroes  of  Washing- 
ton had  just  presented  him  lay  upon  the  table;  and, 
while  we  were  both  examining  it,  I  recited  the  somewhat 
remarkable  passage  from  the  Chronicles,  '  Eastward  were 
six  Levites,  northward  four  a  day,  southward  four  a  day, 
and  towards  Assuppim  two  and  two,  at  Parbar  west- 
ward, four  at  the  causeway,  and  two  at  Parbar.'  He  im- 
mediately challenged  me  to  find  any  such  passage  as  that 
in  his  Bible.  After  I  had  pointed  it  out  to  him,  and  he 
was  satisfied  of  its  genuineness,  he  asked  me  if  I  remem- 
bered the  text  which  his  friends  had  recently  applied  to 
Fremont ;  and  instantly  turned  to  a  verse  in  the  First  of 
Samuel,  put  on  his  spectacles,  arid  read,  in  hia  slow, 
peculiar,  and  waggish  tone,  '  And  every  one  that  was 
in  distress,  and  every  one  that  was  in  debt,  and  every 
one  that  was  discontented,  gathered  themselves  unto 
him ;  and  he  became  a  captain  over  them :  and  there 
were  with  him  about  four  hundred  men.' " 

Here  is  a  story  which  has  been  "  going  the  rounds  " 
of  the  press,  entitled  — 

"  LINCOLN'S  FIRST  DOLLAR." —  One  evening,  in  the  Ex- 
ecutive  Chamber,  there  were  present  a  number  of  gen- 
tlemen, among  them  Mr.  Seward. 

"A  point  in  the  conversation  suggesting  the  thought, 
Mr.  Lincoln  said, '  Seward,  you  never  heard,  did  you,  how 
I  earned  my  first  dollar?' — 'No,' said  Mr.  Seward.  'Well/ 
replied  he,  *  I  was  about  eighteen  years  of  age.  I  be- 
longed, you  know,  to  what  they  call  down  South  "  the 
scrubs :  "  people  who  do  not  own  land  and  slaves  are 
nobody  there.  But  we  had  succeeded  in  raising,  chiefly 
by  my  labor,  sufficient  produce,  as  I  thought,  to  justify 
ino  in  taking  it  down  the  river  to  selL 


AXtCDOTES.  157 

" '  After  much  persuasion,  I  got  the  consent  of  mother 
to  go,  and  constructed  a  little  flat-boat  large  enough  to 
take  the  barrel  or  two  of  things  that  we  had  gathered, 
with  myself  and  little  bundle,  down  to  New  Orleans.  A 
steamer  was  coming  down  the  river.  We  have,  you 
know,  no  wharves  on  the  Western  streams ;  and  the  cus- 
tom was,  if  passengers  were  at  any  of  the  landings,  for 
them  to  go  out  in  a  boat,  the  steamer  stopping,  and  tak- 
ing them  on  board. 

"'  I  was  contemplating  my  new  flat-boat,  and  wonder- 
ing whether  I  could  make  it  stronger  or  improve  it  in 
any  particular,  when  two  men  came  down  to  the  shore 
in  carriages  with  trunks,  and,  looking  at  the  different 
boats, singled  out  mine, and  asked,  "Who  owns  this?"  I 
answered,  somewhat  modestly,  "I  do." — "Will  you,''  said 
one  of  them,  "  take  us  and  our  trunks  out  to  the  steam- 
er ?"  —  "  Certainly,"  said  I.  I  was  very  glad  to  have  the 
chance  of  earning  something.  I  supposed  that  each 
would  give  me  two  or  three  bits.  The  trunks  were  put 
on  my  flat-boat,  the  passengers  seated  themselves  on  the 
trunks,  and  I  sculled  them  out  to  the  steamboat. 

" '  They  got  on  board,  and  I  lifted  up  their  heavy 
trunks,  and  put  them  on  the  deck.  The  steamer  was 
about  to  put  on  steam  again,  when  I  called  out  *hat  they 
had  forgotten  to  pay  me.  Each  of  them  took  from  his 
pocket  a  silver  half-dollar,  and  threw  it  on  the  floor  of 
the  boat.  I  could  scarcely  believe  my  eyes  as  I  picked 
up  the  money.  Gentlemen,  you  may  think  it  was  a  very 
little  thing,  and  in  these  days  it  seems  like  a  trifle;  but 
it  was  a  most  important  incident  in  my  life.  I  could 
scarcely  credit  that  I,  a  poor  boy,  had  earned  a  dollar  in 
less  than  a  day,  —  that  by  honest  work  I  had  earned  a 
dollir.  The  world  seemed  brighter  and  fairer  before  me. 


158  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

I  was  a  more  hopeful  and  confident  being  from  that 
time. '  " 

Carleton,*  the  favorite  coriespoudent  of  the  "  Boston 
Journal,"  narrated  to  the  writer  the  following  anecdote 
concerning  one  of  the  President's  humorous  remarks  :  It 
was  during  the  week  before  Richmond  was  taken.  The 
President  was  with  Gen.  Grant  and  others  at  City-Point 
headquarters.  The  party  sat  where  they  could  see  the 
river.  A  flat-boat  made  its  appearance,  with  apparently 
a  large  family  on  board.  The  President  was  informed 
that  it  was  a  planter  of  the  vicinity,  with  his  wife  and 
legitimate  children,  and  not  a  few  colored  women  with 
their  children,  which  were  also  supposed  to  be  his  own. 
"  Ah  I  yes,"  said  the  President,  "I  see.  It  is  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Ishmael,  all  in  one  boat."  The  aptness  of 
the  Scripture  allusion,  and  the  quickness  of  the  Presi- 
dent in  responding,  woke  a  smile  on  every  countenance. 

The  Hon.  Charles  Sumner,  in  his  eulogy,  thus  refers  to 
the  humor  of  the  President :  "  His  humor  has  also  be- 
come a  proverb.  He  insisted  sometimes  that  he  had  no 
invention,  but  only  a  memory.  He  did  not  forget  the 
good  things  which  he  heard,  and  was  never  without  a  fa- 
miliar story  to  illustrate  his  meaning.  When  he  spoke, 
the  recent  West  seemed  to  vie  with  the  ancient  East  in 
apologue  and  fable." 

A  writer  in  "  Harpers'  Monthly  "  gives  several  anec- 
dotes concerning  the  President,  with  whom  he  seems  to 
have  been  intimately  acquainted.  One  of  them  is  as  fol- 
lows :  "  Mr.  Lincoln  visited  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  in 
the  spring  of  1863,  and,  free  from  the  annoyances  of  of- 
6ce,  was  considerably  refreshed  and  rested;  but  even 
there  the  mental  anxieties  which  never  forsook  him 
seemed  to  cast  him  down  at  times  with  a  great  weight. 

*  C.  C.  Coffin,  Esq. 


AXCDOTES.  159 

We  left  Washington  late  i  the  afternoon  ;  and,  a  snow- 
storm soon  after  coming  >n,  the  steamer  was  anchored, 
for  the  night,  off  Indian  lead,  on  the  Maryland  shore  of 
the  Potomac.  The  Presient  left  the  little  knot  in  the 
cabin,  and,  sitting  alone  ra  corner,  seemed  absorbed  in 
the  saddest  reflections  ir  a  time  ;  then,  beckoning  a 
companion  to  him,  said, '  ^hat  will  you  wager  that  half 
our  iron-clads  are  at  the  bttom  of  Charleston  Harbor?' 
This  being  the  first  intimtion  which  the  other  had  of 
Dupont's  attack,  which  ws  then  begun,  he  hesitated  to 
reply ;  when  the  Presidet  added, '  The  people  will  ex- 
pect big  things  when  theyiear  of  this ;  but  it  is  too  late, 
—  too  late  I ' 

"  During  that  little  voyae,  the  captain  of  the  steamer  a 
frank,  modest  old  sailor,  /as  so  much  affected  by  the 
careworn  appearance  of  thPresident,  that  he  came  to  the 
writer,  and  confessed  thatie  had  received  the  same  im 
pression  of  the  Chief  Maghrate  that  many  had.  Hearing 
of  his  '  little  stories '  and  hi  humor,  he  had  supposed  him 
to  have  no  cares  or  sadnee ;  but  a  sight  of  that  anxious 
and  sad  face  had  undeceivd  him,  and  he  wanted  to  tell 
the  President  how  much  h  had  unintentionally  wronged 
him,  feeling  that  he  had  coamitted  upon  him  a  personal 
wrong.  The  captain  was  uly  introduced  to  the  Presi- 
dent, who  talked  with  hin  privately  for  a  space,  being 
touched  as  well  as  amusd  at  what  he  called  '  Capt. 
M 's  freeing  his  mind.' 

"  An  amusing  yet  touchig  instance  of  the  President's 
pre-occupation  of  mind  occired  at  one  of  his  levees,  when 
he  was  shaking  hands  wh  a  host  of  visitors  passing 
him  in  a  continuous  strean  An  intimate  acquaintance 
received  the  usual  converional  hand-shake  and  saluta- 
tion, but,  perceiving  that  e  was  not  recognized,  kept 
hia  ground,  instead  of  movig  on, and  spoke  again;  when 


160  ASRAffAM  LINCOLN. 

the  President,  roused  by  a  dim  consciousness  that  some- 
thing unusual  had  happened,  perceived  who  stood  before 
him,  and,  seizing  his  friend's  hand,  shook  it  again  heartily, 
saying,  '  How  do  you  do  ?  how  do  you  do  ?  Excuse  me 
for  not  noticing  you  at  first:  the  fact  is,  I  was  thinking 
of  a  man  down  South.'  He  afterwards  privately  acknowl- 
edged that  the  '  man  down  South '  was  Sherman,  then  on 
his  march  to  the  sea. 

"Mr.  Lincoln  had  not  a  hopeful  temperament,  and, 
though  he  looked  at  the  bright  side  of  things,  was  always 
prepared  for  disaster  and  defeat.  With  his  wonderful 
faculty  for  discerning  results,  he  often  saw  success 
where  others  saw  disaster,  but  oftener  perceived  a  failure 
\\  ben  others  were  elated  with  victory,  or  were  tempo- 
rarily deceived  by  appearances.  Of  a  great  cavalry  raid, 
which  filled  the  newspapers  with  glowing  exultation,  but 
failed  to  cut  the  communications  which  it  had  been  de- 
signed to  destroy,  he  briefly  said,  'That  was  good  circus- 
riding  :  it  will  do  to  fill  a  column  in  the  newspapers  ;  but  I 
don't  see  that  it  has  brought  any  thing  else  to  pass.'  He 
often  said  that  the  worst  feature  about  newspapers  was 
that  they  were  so  sure  to  be  '  ahead  of  the  hounds,'  out- 
running events,  and  exciting  expectations  which  were 
sure  to  be  disappointed.  One  of  the  worst  effects  of  a 
victory,  he  said,  was  to  lead  people  to  expect  that  the 
war  was  about  over  in  consequence  of  it ;  but  he  was 
never  weary  of  commending  the  patience  of  the  Ameri- 
can people,  which  he  thought  something  matchless  and 
touching.  .  .  . 

"The  world  will  never  hear  the  last  of  the  'little  stories' 
with  which  the  President  garnished  or  illustrated  his  con- 
versation and  his  early  stump-speeches.  He  said,  how- 
ever, that,  as  near  as  he  could  reckon,  about  one-sixth  of 
ttnse  which  were  credited  to  him  were  old  accquaint- 


ANECDOTES.  161 

ances  :  all  of  the  rest  were  the  productions  of  other  and 
better  story-tellers  than  himself.  Said  he,  'I  do  generally 
remember  a  good  story  when  1  hear  it ;  but  I  never  did 
invent  any  thing  original :  I  am  only  a  retail-dealer.'  His 
anecdotes  were  seldom  told  for  the  sake  of  the  telling, 
but  because  they  fitted  in  just  where  they  came,  and  shed 
a  light  on  the  argument  that  nothing  else  could.  He 
was  not  witty,  but  brimful  of  humor  ;  and,  though  he  was 
quick  to  appreciate  a  good  pun,  I  never  knew  of  his  mak- 
ing but  one,  which  was  on  the  Christian  name  of  a  friend, 
to  whom  he  said,  '  You  have  yet  to  be  elected  to  the 
place  I  hold ;  but  Noah's  reign  was  before  Abraham.' 
He  thought  the  chief  characteristic  of  American  humor 
was  its  grotesqueness  and  extravagance ;  and  the  story  of 
the  man  who  was  so  tall  that  he  was  '  laid  out '  in  a  rope 
walk,  the  soprano  voice  so  high  that  it  had  to  be  climbed 
over  by  a  ladder,  and  the  Dutchman's  expression  of 
'  somebody  tying  his  dog  loose,'  all  made  a  permanent 
lodgement  in  his  mind.  .  .  . 

"  People  were  sometimes  disappointed  because  he  ap- 
peared before  them  with  a  written  speech.  The  best 
explanation  of  that  habit  of  his  was  his  remark  to  a  friend, 
who  noticed  a  roll  of  manuscript  in  the  hand  of  the  Presi- 
dent as  he  came  into  the  parlor,  while  waiting  for  the 
serenade  which  was  given  him  on  the  night  following  his 
re-election.  Said  he,  '  I  know  what  you're  thinking  about; 
but  there's  no  clap-trap  about  me  ;  and  I  am  free  to  say. 
that,  in  the  excitement  of  the  moment,  I  am  sure  to  saj 
something  which  I  am  sorry  for  when  I  see  it  in  print  • 
so  I  have  it  here  in  black  and  white,  and  there  are  no 
mistakes  made.  People  attach  too  much  importance  to 
what  I  say  anyhow.' 

"  Upon  another  ocoasion,  hearing  that  I  was  in  the 
parlor,  he  sent  for  me  to  come  up  into  the  library,  where 
11 


162  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

I  found  him  writing  on  a  piece  of  common  stiff  box-  j>oard 
with  a  pencil.  Said  he,  after  he  had  finished,  '  Here  is 
one  speech  of  mine  which  has  never  been  printed,  and  I 
think  it  worth  printing.  Just  see  what  you  think.'  He 
then  read  the  following,  which  is  copied  verbatim  from 
the  familiar  handwriting  before  me  :  — 

"'On  Thursday  of  last  week  two  ladies  from  Tennessee 
came  before  the  President,  asking  the  release  of  their 
husbands,  held  as  prisoners  of  war  at  Johnson's  Island. 
They  were  put  off  until  Friday;  when  they  came  again, 
and  were  again  put  off  until  Saturday.  At  each  of  the 
interviews,  one  of  the  ladies  urged  that  her  husband  was 
a  religious  man.  On  Saturday,  when  the  President 
ordered  the  release  of  the  prisoners,  he  said  to  this  lady, 
"  You  say  your  husband  is  a  religious  man:  tell  him,  when 
you  meet  him,  that  I  say  I  am  not  much  a  judge  of  re- 
ligion, but  that,  in  my  opinion,  that  religion  that  sets  men 
to  rebel  and  fight  against  their  Government,  because,  as 
they  think,  that  Government  does  not  sufficiently  help 
some  men  to  eat  their  bread  in  the  sweat  of  other  men's 
faces,  is  not  the  sort  of  religion  upon  which  people  can 
get  to  heaven."  ' 

"  To  this  the  President  signed  his  name  at  my  request, 
by  way  of  joke,  and  added  for  a  caption,  '  The  President's 
last,  shortest,  and  best  speech  ; '  under  which  title  it  was 
duly  published  in  one  of  the  Washington  newspapers. 
His  message  to  the  last  session  of  Congress  was  first 
written  upon  the  same  sort  of  white  pasteboard  above 
referred  to;  its  stiffness  enabling  him  to  lay  it  on  his 
knee  as  he  sat  easily  in  his  arm-chair,  writing  and  eras- 
ing as  he  thought  and  wrought  out  his  idea." 

The  author  of  the  "  Pioneer  Boy"  says  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
"He  never  felt  above  his  business.  He  was  never 
ashamed  of  his  origin  or  his  poverty.  When  consulted 


ANECDOTES.  163 

with  regard  to  the  incidents  of  his  early  life,  he  remarked, 
'  You  can  find  the  whole  of  my  early  life  in  a  single  line 
of  Gray's  Elegy, — 

1  The  short  and  simple  annals  of  the  poor.'  " 

Carpenter,  the  artist,  has  contributed  to  the  "  Xew- 
York  Independent"  several  chapters  of  reminiscences 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  from  which  the  following  is  taken:  — 

SHAKSPEARE.  —  Something  was  said  about  the  play  of 
"  Hamlet."  Mr.  Lincoln  waked  up  with  the  mention  of 
the  theme,  and  soon  after  said,  —  and  I  have  often 
thought  of  his  words  with  a  sad  interest  since  his  own 
assassination,  — "  There  is  one  passage  of  the  play  of 
'  Hamlet '  which  is  very  apt  to  be  slurred  over  by 
the  actor,  or  omitted  altogether,  which  seems  to  me  the 
choicest  part  of  the  play.  It  is,"  he  went  on  to  say, 
"  the  soliloquy  of  the  king  after  the  murder.  It  always 
struck  me  as  one  of  the  finest  touches  of  nature  in  the 
world."  .  .  . 

Remaining  in  thought  for  a  few  moments,  he  con- 
tinued: — 

"  The  opening  of  the  play  of '  King  Richard  the  Third  ' 
seems  to  me  often  entirely  misapprehended.  It  is  quite 
common  for  an  actor  to  come  upon  the  stage,  and,  in  a 
sophomorical  style,  to  begin  with  a  flourish  :  — 

1  Now  is  the  winter  of  our  discontent 
Made  glorious  summer  by  this  sun  of  York, 
And  all  the  clouds  that  lowered  upon  our  house 
In  the  deep  bosom  of  the  ocean  buried.' 

Now,"  said  he,  "  this  is  all  wrong.  Richard,  you  remem 
her,  had  been,  and  was  then,  plotting  the  destruction  of 
his  brothers,  to  make  room  for  himself.  Outwardly  the 
most  loyal  to  the  newly  crowned  king,  secretly  he  could 


164  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

scarcely  contain  his  impatience  at  the  obstacles  still  in 
the  way  of  his  own  elevation.  He  appears  upon  the 
stage,  just  after  the  crowning  of  Edward,  burning  with 
repressed  hate  and  jealousy.  The  prologue  is  the  utter- 
ance of  the  most  intense  bitterness  and  satire." 

Then,  unconsciously  assuming  the  character,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln repeated,  also  from  memory,  Richard's  soliloquy, 
rendering  it  with  a  degree  of  force  and  power  that  made 
it  seem  like  a  new  creation  to  me.  Though  familiar  with 
the  passage  from  boyhood,  I  can  truly  say  that  never  till 
that  moment  had  I  fully  appreciated  its  spirit.  I  could 
not  refrain  from  laying  down  my  palette  and  brushes, 
and  applauding  the  President  heartily  upon  bis  conclu- 
sion, saying  at  the  same  time,  half  in  earnest,  that  "  I 
was  not  sure  but  that  he  had  made  a  mistake  in  the 
choice  of  a  profession,"  considerably,  as  may  be  ima- 
gined, to  his  amusement. 

A  PRESIDENTIAL  MESSAGE.  —  It  will  be  remembered 
that  an  extra  session  of  Congress  was  called  in  July  fol- 
lowing Mr.  Lincoln's  inauguration.  In  the  message  then 
sent  in,  speaking  of  secession,  and  the  measures  taken 
by  the  Southern  leaders  to  bring  it  about,  there  occurs 
the  following  remark  :  "  With  rebellion  thus  sugar- 
coated,  they  have  been  drugging  the  public  mind  of 
their  section  for  more  than  thirty  years,  until  at  length 
they  have  brought  many  good  men  to  a  willingness 
to  take  up  arms  against  the  Government,"  &c.  Mr.  De 
Frees,  the  Government  printer,  told  me,  that,  when  the 
message  was  being  printed,  he  was  a  good  deal  dis- 
turbed by  the  use  of  the  term  "  sugar-coated,"  and  finally 
went  to  the  President  about  it.  Their  relations  to  each 
other  being  of  the  most  intimate  character,  he  told  Mr. 
Lincoln  frankly  that  he  ought  to  remember  that  a  mes- 
sage to  Congress  was  a  different  affair  from  a  speech  at 


ANECDOTES.  165 

ft  mass-meeting  in  Illinois ;  that  the  messages  became  a 
part  of  history,  and  should  be  written  accordingly. 

"  What  is  the  matter  now  ?  "  inquired  the  President. 

"  Why,"  said  Mr.  De  Frees,  "  you  have  used  an  undig- 
nified expression  in  the  message ; "  and  then,  reading 
the  paragraph  aloud,  he  added,  "I  would  alter  the  struc- 
ture of  that  if  I  were  you." 

"De  Frees,"  replied  Mr.  Lincoln,  "  that  word  expresses 
precisely  my  idea,  and  I  am  not  going  to  change  it.  The 
time  will  never  corne  in  this  country  when  the  people 
won't  know  exactly  what  sugar-coated  means  1 " 

The  following  anecdote  was  related  by  President  Lin- 
coln with  great  effect,  and  proves  that  he  well  under- 
stood the  deadly  nature  of  the  great  conflict  to  come:  — 

" '  I  once  knew,'  he  said,  '  a  good  sound  churchman, 
whom  we  will  call  Brown,  who  was  in  a  committee  to 
erect  a  bridge  over  a  very  dangerous  and  rapid  river. 
Architect  after  architect  failed  ;  and,  at  last,  Brown  said 
he  had  a  friend  named  Jones,  who  had  built  several 
bridges,  and  could  build  this.  "  Let  us  have  him  in,"  said 
the  committee.  In  came  Jones.  "  Can  you  build  this 
bridge,  sir?" — "Yes,"  replied  Jones,  "I  could  build  a 
bridge  to  the  infernal  regions  if  necessary."  The  sober 
committee  were  horrified.  But,  when  Jones  retired, 
Brown  thought  it  but  fair  to  defend  his  friend.  "  I  know 
Jones  so  well,"  said  he,  "  he  is  so  honest  a  man,  and  so 
good  an  architect,  that,  if  he  states  soberly  and  positive- 
ly that  he  can  build  a  bridge  to  Hades,  why,  I  believe  it ; 
but  I  have  my  doubts  about  the  abutment  on  the  in- 
fornal  side."  So,'  Mr.  Lincoln  added,  '  when  politicians 
said  they  could  harmonize  the  Northern  and  Southern 
wings  of  the  democracy,  why,  I  believed  them;  but  I 
had  my  doubts  about  the  abutment  on  the  Southern 
side.'"* 

*  Rev.  Johi-  S.  C.  Abbott's  "  History  of  the  Civil  W*».* 


166  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

The  following  is  a  characteristic  short  sermon,  which, 
it  is  stated,  President  Lincoln  was  in  the  habit  of  preach- 
ing to  his  children  :  — 

"  Don't  drink,  don't  smoke,  don't  chew,  don't  swear, 
don't  gamble,  don't  lie,  don't  cheat ;  love  your  fellow-men 
as  well  as  God;  love  truth,  love  virtue,  and  be  happy  !" 


CHAPTER  X. 

CHBISTIAN  WORDS   AND   DEEDS. 

"  Be  good,  sweet  friend,  and  let  who  will  be  clever ; 

Do  noble  deeds,  not  dream  them  all  day  long; 
And  so  make  life,  death,  and  that  vast  Forever, 
One  grand,  sweet  song." 

REV.  CHARLES  KLNGSLET. 

"  The  law  of  truth  was  In  his  mouth,  and  iniquity  was  not  found  In  his  lips."  - 
MALACHI  ii.  6. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  a  Christian ;  but  no  p'articular 
branch  of  Zion  can  claim  him.  He  belongs  to  that  uni- 
versal Church  of  which  Christ  alone  is  head,  and  all 
whose  members  are  imbued  with  their  Master's  spirit. 
Under  different  names,  or  perhaps,  like  him,  with  no 
denominational  rank  at  all,  the  great  souls  that  delight  to 
do  good,  and  desire  to  live  and  act  for  the  honor  of  God, 
are  moving  forward  at  the  command  of  one  Leader,  and 
to  one  grand  destiny.  These  are  the  world's  workers. 
Imbued  with  Christ's  spirit  of  self-sacrificing  love,  they 
act  as  if,  like  him,  they  came  to  earth,  "  not  to  be  minis- 
tered unto,  but  to  minister."  And  who  shall  deny  them 
a  place  amid  God's  elect,  or  shut  against  them  at  last 
the  door  of  heaven  ?  It  is  not  so  much  creed  as  life  that 
is  to  be  weighed  in  the  unerring  scales  of  God's  justice. 
A  man  may  profess  to  have  a  pure  and  noble  creed,  but 
in  daily  deeds  contradict  it;  and  a  man  may  have  a 
warped  and  narrow  view  of  truth,  and  yet  his  life  be 
broader  and  better  than  his  creed.  But,  generally,  "  as 
a  man  thiiiketh,  so  is  he."  Men  are  biassed  by  their  reli- 
gious views  and  opinions ;  and  he  who  has  profuundest 

W 


168  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

faith  in  things  unseen  is  most  likely  to  labor  assiduously 
in  doing  God's  will  amid  the  things  that  are  seen  and 
temporal. 

Thus  did  our  martyred  President.  He  never  joined 
a  church,  because,  as  he  said,  he  found  difficulty  in  giv- 
ing his  assent,  without  mental  reservation,  to  the  long 
complicated  statements  of  Christian  doctrine  which 
characterize  their  Articles  of  Belief,  and  Confessions  of 
Faith. 

"  When  any  church,"  he  continued,  "  will  inscribe  over 
its  altar,  as  its  sole  qualification  for  membership,  the 
Saviour's  condensed  statement  of  the  substance  of  both 
law  and  gospel,  'Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy 
mind,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,'  that  church  will  I  join 
with  all  my  heart  and  all  my  soul." 

The  President  was  a  great  reader  of  the  Bible.  The 
last  photograph  taken  of  him  represents  him  reading 
that  blessed  volume,  with  little  Thaddeus  standing  at 
his  side. 

Rev.  W.  M.  Thayer  says  of  him  in  his  youth,  "  For  a 
boy  of  his  age,  he  was  excelled  by  few  in  his  acquaint- 
ance with  the  Scriptures.  The  Bible,  catechism,  and  the 
old  spelling-book  named,  being  the  only  books  in  the 
family  at  this  time,  and  there  being  no  papers,  either 
religious  or  secular,  the  Bible  was  read  much  more  than 
it  would  have  been  if  other  volumes  had  been  possessed. 
.  .  .  That  same  Bible  is  still  in  the  possession  of  a  rela- 
tive in  the  State,  of  Illinois." 

As  long  as  he  lived,  the  President  valued  the  Best  of 
Books.  One  who  knew  him  intimately  says,  "  The  Bible 
was  a  very  familiar  study  with  the  President ';  whole 


CHRISTIAN   WORDS  AND   DEEDS.  169 

chapters  of  Isaiah,  the  New  Testament,  and  the  Psalms, 
being  fixed  in  his  memory :  and  he  would  sometimes 
correct  a  misquotation  of  Scripture,  giving  generally  the 
chapter  and  verse  where  it  could  be  found.  He  liked 
the  Old  Testament  best,  and  dwelt  on  the  simple  beauty 
of  the  historical  books.  Once,  speaking  of  his  own  age 
and  strength,  he  quoted  with  admiration  that  passage, 
1  His  eye  was  not  dim,  nor  his  natural  force  abated.'  I 
do  not  know  that  he  thought  then,  how,  like  that  Moses 
of  old,  he  was  to  stand  on  Pisgah,  and  see  a  peaceful 
laud  which  he  was  not  to  enter."  *  It  has  been  said  that 
the  President  was  in  the  habit  of  rising  early,  and  spend- 
ing an  hour  in  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  and  prayer. 
It  would  be  well  if  all  in  authority  would  imitate  an  ex- 
ample so  good  and  salutary :  then  might  we  hope  that 
our  nation  would  speedily  become  "  one  whose  God  is 
the  Lord,"  and  be"  evermore  a  "  praise  in  the  earth."  f 

Shaping  his  life-course  by  the  chart,  which,  emanating 
from  God  himself,  cannot  be  imperfect,  the  President 
was  always  a  temperate  man. 

"  Through  his  whole  life  he  remained  the  advocate  of 
temperance.  He  regretted  the  intemperance  that  ex- 
isted in  the  army.  In  reply  to  a  delegation  of  the  Sons 

*  "  Harpers'  Monthly,"  July,  1865. 

t  Like  Daniel  Webster,  Byron,  and  other  writers,  Lincoln  drew  largely  on 
the  Bible  for  illustration.  He  sakl  to  a  friend,  that  "many  years  ago,  when 
the  custom  of  lecture-giving  was  more  common  than  since,  he  was  induced  to 
try  his  hand  at  composing  a  literary  lecture, —  something  which  he  thought 
entirely  out  of  his  line.  The  subject,  he  said,  was  not  defined;  but  his  purpose 
was  to  analyze  inventions  and  discoveries,  "  to  get  at  the  bottom  of  things," 
and  to  show  when,  where,  how,  and  why  such  things  were  invented  or  discov- 
ered; and,  so  far  as  possible,  to  find  where  the  rirst  mention  is  made  of  some 
uncommon  things.  The  Bible,,  he  s.-JiW,  he  fcm.tu.1  to  be,  the  richest  ttorehotut  for 
such  knowledge  ;  and  he  then  gave  one  or  'wo  illustrations  which  were  new  to 
his  hearers.  The  lecture  was  naver  finished,  and  was  left  among  his  loos* 
papers  at  Springfield  when  he  came  to  Washington."  * 

*  "  Harpers'  Monthly." 


170  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

of  Temperance  on  this  subject,  he  said,  in  substance, 
that "  when  he  was  a  young  man,  long  ago,  before  the 
Sons  of  Temperance,  as  an  organization,  had  an  existence, 
he,  in  a  humble  way,  made  temperance  speeches ;  and 
he  thought  he  might  say,  that,  to  this  day,  he  had  never> 
by  his  example,  belied  what  he  then  said.  As  to  the 
suggestions  for  the  purpose  of  the  advancement  of  the 
cause  of  temperance  in  the  army,  he  could  not  respond 
to  them.  To  prevent  intemperance  in  the  army  is  the 
aim  of  a  great  part  of  the  rules  and  articles  of  war.  It 
is  a  part  of  the  law  of  the  land,  and  was  so,  he  presumed, 
long  ago,  to  dismiss  officers  for  drunkenness.  He  was  not 
sure,  that,  consistently  with  the  public  service,  more 
could  be  done  than  has  been  done.  All,  therefore,  he 
could  promise,  was  to  have  a  copy  of  the  address  sub- 
mitted to  the  principal  departments,  and  have  it  consid- 
ered whether  it  contains  any  suggestions  which  will  im- 
prove the  cause  of  temperance  and  repress  drunkenness 
in  the  army  any  better  than  is  already  done.  He  thought 
the  reasonable  men  of  the  world  have  long  since  agreed 
that  drunkenness  is  one  of  the  greatest,  if  not  the  very 
greatest,  of  all  evils  among  mankind.  That  is  not  a  mat- 
ter of  dispute.  All  men  agree  that  intemperance  is  a 
great  curse,  but  differ  about  the  cure."* 

One  more  extract  only  from  Mr.  Thayer's  testimonial 
to  the  great  and  good  man.  He  says  that  a  friend  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  who  had  known  him  as  a  neighbor  for  many 
years,  writes  thus  to  him :  "  I  have  known  him  long  and 
well;  and  I  can  say  in  truth,  I  think  (take  him  altogether) 
he  is  the  best  man  I  ever  saw.  Although  he  has  never 
made  a  public  profession  of  religion,  I  nevertheless  be- 
lieve that  he  has  the  fear  of  God  before  his  eyes,  and  that 
he  goes  daily  to  a  throne  of  grace,  and  asks  wisdom,  light, 

»  "  President's  Worjs,"  p.  JQ3- 


CHRISTIAN  WORDS  AND  DEEDS.  171 

and  knowledge  to  enable  him  faithfully  to  discharge  his 
duties." 

Bishop  Simpson  thus  testifies  of  the  departed  Chief 
Magistrate :  "  Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  good  man.  He 
was  known  as  an  honest,  temperate,  forgiving  man;  a 
just  man ;  a  man  of  noble  heart  in  every  way.  .  .  . 

"  As  a  ruler,  I  doubt  if  any  President  has  ever  shown 
such  trust  in  God,  or,  in  public  documents,  so  frequently 
referred  to  divine  aid.  Often  did  he  remark  to  friends 
and  to  delegations,  that  his  hope  for  our  success  rested  in 
his  conviction  that  God  would  bless  our  efforts  because 
we  were  trying  to  do  right.  To  the  address  of  a  large 
religious  body,  he  replied,  '  Thanks  be  unto  God,  who, 
in  our  national  trials,  giveth  us  the  churches.'  To  a 
minister,  who  said  he  hoped  the  Lord  was  on  our  side,  he 
replied  that  it  gave  him  no  concern  whether  the  Lord 
was  on  our  side  or  not:  'For,'  he  added, 'I  know  the 
Lord  is  always  on  the  side  of  right ; '  and  with  deep  feel- 
ing added,  '  But  God  is  my  witness  that  it  is  my  constant 
anxiety  and  prayer  that  both  myself  and  this  nation 
should  be  on  the  Lord's  side.' " 

The  following  incident  must  not  be  omitted  in  this 
mention  of  the  President's  Christian  words  and  deeds. 
During  the  visit  of  Mr.  Lincoln  to  New  York  in  1860,  he 
visited  a  mission-school  at  the  Five-Points'  House  of  In- 
dustry. The  teacher  thus  narrates  the  circumstance  :— 

"  Our  Sunday  school  in  the  Five  Points  was  assembled 
one  Sabbath  morning,  when  I  noticed  a  tall,  remarkable- 
looking  man  enter  the  room,  and  take  a  seat  among  us. 
He  listened  with  fixed  attention  to  our  exercises;  and  his 
countenance  expressed  such  genuine  interest,  that  I  ap- 
proached him,  and  suggested  that  he  might  be  willing  to 
say  something  to  the  children.  He  accepted  the  invita- 
tion with  evident  pleasure  ;  and,  coming  forward,  begau 


172  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

a  simple  address,  which  at  once  fascinated  every  little 
hearer,  and  hushed  the  room  into  silence.  His  language 
was  strikingly  beautiful,  and  his  tones  musical  with  in- 
tensest  feeling.  The  little  faces  around  him  would  droop 
into  sad  conviction  as  he  uttered  sentences  of  warning, 
and  would  lighten  into  sunshine  as  he  spoke  cheerful 
words  of  promise.  Once  or  twice  he  attempted  to  close 
his  remarks ;  but  the  imperative  shout  of  'Go  on  1  oh, 
do  go  on  ! '  would  compel  him  to  resume.  As  I  looked 
upon  the  gaunt  and  sinewy  frame  of  the  stranger,  and 
marked  his  powerful  head  and  determined  features,  now 
touched  into  softness  by  the  impressions  of  the  moment, 
I  felt  an  irrepressible  curiosity  to  learn  something  more 
about  him ;  and  when  he  was  quietly  leaving  the  room,  I 
begged  to  know  his  name.  He  courteously  replied,  '  It  is 
Abraham  Lincoln,  from  Illinois.'  " 

Thus  did  the  future  President  spend  a  portion  of  his 
Sabbath,  while  absent  from  his  home,  in  a  distant  city ; 
and  thus,  in  doing  and  getting  good,  would  he  have 
others  keep  the  Sabbath.  His  deep  and  earnest  rever- 
ence for  Christianity  is  seen  in  the  following  official 
paper,  issued  on  the  16th  of  November,  1862:  — 

"  The  President,  Commander-in-chief  of  the  Army  and 
Navy,  desires  and  enjoins  the  orderly  observance  of  the 
Sabbath  by  the  officers. and  men  in  the  military  and  naval 
service.  The  importance  for  man  and  beast  of  the  pre- 
scribed weekly  rest,  the  sacred  rights  of  Christian  soldiers 
and  sailors,  a  becoming  deference  to  the  best  sentiment 
of  a  Christian  people,  and  a  due  regard  for  the  divine 
will,  demand  that  Sunday  labor  in  the  army  and  navy  be 
reduced  to  the  measure  of  strict  necessity. 

"  The  discipline  and  character  of  the  national  forces 
should  not  suffer,  nor  the  cause  they  defend  be  imperilled, 
by  the  profanation  of  the  day  or  name  of  the  Most  High, 


CBRISTIAN   WORDS  AND  DEEDS.  173 

'At  this  time  of  public  distress/  adopting  the  woids  of 
Washington  in  1776, '  men  may  find  enough  to  do  in  the 
service  of  God  and  their  country,  without  abandoning 
themselves  to  vice  and  immorality.'  The  first  general 
order  issued  by  the  Father  of  his  Country  after  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  indicates  the  spirit  in  which 
our  institutions  were  founded,  and  should  ever  be  de- 
fended :  '  The  General  hopes  and  trusts  that  every  offi- 
cer and  man  will  endeavor  to  live  and  act  as  becomes  a 
Christian  soldier  defending  the  dearest  rights  and  liber- 
ties of  his  country.' 

"ABRAHAM  LINCOLN." 

Among  the  kindly  and  appreciative  words  of  the 
amiable  President  may  be  found  his  brief  speech  on  the 
18th  March,  1864,  at  the  close  of  the  successful  fair  held 
in  the  Patent  Office  in  Washington.  It  was  as  follows: — 

"LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN, —  I  appear  to  say  but  a  word. 
This  extraordinary  war  in  which  we  are  engaged  falls 
heavily  upon  all  classes  of  people,  but  the  most  heavily 
upon  the  soldier.  For  it  has  been  said,  all  that  a  man 
hath  will  he  give  for  his  life  ;  and,  while  all  contribute  of 
their  substance,  the  soldier  puts  his  life  at  stake,  and 
often  yields  it  up  in  his  country's  cause.  The  highest 
merit,  then,  is  due  to  the  soldier. 

"  In  this  extraordinary  war,  extraordinary  develop- 
ments have  manifested  themselves,  such  as  have  not 
been  seen  in  former  wars  ;  and,  among  these  manifesta- 
tions, nothing  has  been  more  remarkable  than  these  fairs 
for  the  relief  of  suffering  soldiers  and  their  families. 
And  the  chief  agents  in  these  fairs  are  the  women  of 
America.  I  am  not  accustomed  to  the  use  of  the  lan- 
guage of  eulogy ;  I  have  never  studied  the  art  of  paying 
compliments  to  women :  but  I  must  say,  that  if  all  that 


l?4  AKn  Alt  AM 

has  been  said  by  orators  and  poets,  since  the  creation  ol 
the  world,  in  praise  of  women,  were  applied  to  the  women 
of  America,  it  would  not  do  them  justice  for  their  con- 
duct during  this  war.  I  will  close  by  saying,  God  bless 
the  women  of  America ! " 

Again:  just  before  he  wrote  the  immortal  proclama- 
tion, he  said,  "  Do  not  misunderstand  me :  ...  I  have 
not  decided  against  a  proclamation  of  liberty  to  the 
slaves,  but  hold  the  matter  under  advisement.  And  I 
can  assure  you  that  the  subject  is  on  my  mind,  by  day 
and  night,  more  than  any  other.  Whatever  shall  appear 
to  be  God's  will,  I  will  do."  * 

And  yet  again :  in  words  of  living  faith  he  says,  "  If  we 
have  patience,  if  we  restrain  ourselves,  if  we  allow  our- 
selves not  to  run  off  in  a  passion,  I  still  have  confidence 
that  the  Almighty,  the  Maker  of  the  universe,  will, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  this  great  and  intelligent 
people,  bring  us  through  this,  as  he  has  through  all  the 
other  difficulties  of  our  country."  f  This  was  said  in 
1861.  In  1864,  the  President's  faith  was  lost  in  sight. 

See  the  modesty  of  our  late  President  in  his  own  rec- 
ord of  his  life,  furnished  for  a  "  Dictionary  of  Congress.'* 

«  Born  Feb.  12,  1809,  in  Ilardin  County,  Ky. 

"  Education  defective. 

"  Profession,  a  lawyer.  Have  been  a  captain  of  volun- 
teers in  the  Black-Hawk  War. 

"  Postmaster  at  a  very  small  office.  Four  times  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Illinois  Legislature,  and  was  a  member  of 
the  lower  house  of  Congress. 

"  Yours,  &c.j  "  A.  LINCOLN." 

H^re  is  the  record  of  an  act  of  kindness,  from  the  pen 
of  a  West^n  editor  :  — 

•  "  President  Words,"  p.  118.  t  Ibid. 


WORDS  Atft)  DEEbS.  if5 

"  I  dropped  in  upon  Mr.  Lincoln  on  Monday  last,  and 
found  him  busily  engaged  in  counting  green-backs. 
'  This,  sir,'  said  he,  '  is  something  out  of  my  usual  line  : 
but  a  President  of  the  United  States  has  a  multiplicity 
of  duties  not  specified  in  the  Constitution,  or  Acts  of 
Congress ;  this  is  one  of  them.  This  money  belongs  to 
a  poor  negro,  who  is  a  porter  in  one  of  the  depart- 
ments (the  Treasury),  and  who  is  at  present  very  sick 
with  the  small-pox.  He  is  now  in  the  hospital,  and  could 
not  draw  his  pay  because  he  could  not  sign  his  name.  1 
have  been  at  considerable  trouble  to  overcome  the  dif- 
ficulty, and  get  it  for  him;  and  have  at  length  succeeded 
in  cutting  red  tape,  as  you  newspaper-men  say.  I  am 
now  dividing  the  money,  and  putting  by  a  portion, 
labelled  in  an  envelope  with  my  own  hands,  according 
to  his  wish."  * 

An  English  clergyman  said  in  his  eulogy,  "  One  or  two 
illustrations  of  his  personal  kindness  have  just  come  to 
my  knowledge  through  a  friend  who  has  recently  re- 
turned from  the  United  States.  This  gentleman  told  me 
that  he  was  one  day  conversing  with  the  general  in  com- 
mand of  one  of  the  armies,  on  the  subject  of  desertion; 
when  the  general  said,  '  The  first  week  of  my  command, 
there  were  twenty-four  deserters  sentenced  by  court-mar- 
tial to  be  shot;  and  the  warrants  for  their  execution 
were  sent  to  the  President  to  be  signed  :  he  refused.  I 
went  to  Washington,  and  had  an  interview.  I  said,  'Mr. 
President,  unless  these  men  are  made  an  example  of,  the 
army  itself  is  in  danger.  Mercy  to  the  few  is  cruelty  to 
the  many.'  He  replied,  'Mr.  General,  there  are  already 
too  many  weeping  widows  in  the  United  States.  For 
God's  sake,  don't  ask  me  to  add  to  the  number;  for  I 

•  "  Chicago  Tribune." 


176  A&RABAM  LINCOLN. 

won't  do  it.'  A  young  sentry  was  found  asleep  on  his 
post:  he  was  sentenced  to  be  shot;  but  the  President 
came  into  camp,  and  granted  the  earnest  petition  of  the 
lad.  The  dead  body  of  that  youth  was  afterwards  found 
among  the  slain  on  the  field  of  Fredericksburg ;  and  un- 
der his  waistcoat,  next  to  his  breast,  was  a  photograph  of 
the  President,  beneath  which  the  lad  had  written, '  God 
bless  President  Lincoln  ! '  Many  similar  incidents  might 
be  cited  to  show  how  tender-hearted  he  was,  and  how 
deeply  he  was  beloved  by  multitudes  who  have  received 
from  him  personal  marks  of  kindness." 

At  the  time  when  the  young  soldier  above  mentioned 
was  under  sentence  of  death,  "  Carleton"  (C.  C.  Coffin), 
of  the  "  Journal,"  was  in  Washington.  He  became  con- 
vinced that  the  case  was  one  deserving  pardon  ;  that  the 
young  man  had  been  kept  awake  too  long,  and  was  not 
desirous  of  failing  in  duty,  but  was  absolutely  over- 
powered by  fatigue.  On  the  evening  preceding  the  day 
when  he  was  to  be  shot,  Mr.  Coffin  called  on  a  Presby- 
terian pastor,  Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  and  found  that  he  had 
retired  to  his  bed,  sick  on  account  of  the  approaching 
doom  for  one  whom  he  also  deemed  innocent.  He  rose, 
and,  proceeding  to  the  parlor,  told  "  Carleton "  that  he 
heard  the  President  had  "  made  up  his  mind  "  to  have 
the  young  man  executed,  and  forbade  all  admittance  to 
those  who  would  plead  for  him  :  so  the  clergyman  had 
been  asking  for  deliverance  of  One  whose  ear  is  ever 
open.  The  two  proceeded  to  the  White  House,  were 
denied  admittance  to  the  President,  but  wrote  a  note 
to  him,  begging  the  young  man's  life,  which  the  President 
consented  to  receive ;  and  they  left  the  White  House 
ignorant  of  the  result.  The  next  day  the  pardon  was 


CHRISTIAN   WORDS  AND   DEEDS.  177 

announced ;  and  two  hearts  at  least  were  happy  at  the 
news,  though  they  could  not  know  how  far  they  had 
been  instrumental  in  securing  the  pardon.  One  thing 
they  knew,  —  that  the  President  was  as  glad  to  pardon 
as  they  to  hear  of  it. 

The  following  is  from  a  newspaper  correspondent, 
and  shows  the  President's  appreciation  of  their  efforts 
who  fought  bravely  for  their  country  :  — 

"  That  night  I  left  the  fortress,  and  got  Worden  safe 
home  in  Washington  City ;  when,  leaving  him  to  the  care 
of  my  wife,  I  went  with  the  Secretary  to  the  President, 
and  gave  him  the  particulars  of  the  engagement.  As  soon 
as  I  had  done,  Mr.  Lincoln  said,  '  Gentlemen,  I  am  going 
to  shake  hands  with  that  man;'  and  presently  he  walked 
round  with  me  to  our  little  house.  I  led  him  up  stairs  to 
the  room  where  Worden  was  lying  with  fresh  bandages 
over  his  scorched  eyes  and  face,  and  said,  'Jack,  here's 
the  President,  who  has  come  to  see  you.'  He  raised 
himself  on  his  elbow  as  Mr.  Lincoln  took  him  by  the  hand, 
and  said,  *  You  do  me  great  honor,  Mr.  President ;  and  I 
am  only  sorry  that  I  can't  see  you.'  The  President  was 
visibly  affected,  as,  with  tall  frame  and  earnest  gaze,  he 
bent  over  his  wounded  subordinate ;  but,  after  a  pause, 
he  said,  with  a  quiver  in  the  tone  of  his  voice,  'You  have 
done  me  more  honor,  sir,  than  I  can  ever  do  to  you.'  He 
then  sat  down,  while  Worden  gave  him  an  account  of  the 
battle;  and,  on  leaving,  he  promised,  if  he  could  legally 
do  so,  that  he  would  make  him  a  captain." 

President  Lincoln  was  accustomed  to  visit  the  hospit- 
als, and  speak  kind  words  to  the  sick  and  wounded  sol- 
diers.    True  charity  is  shown  not  only  in  almsgiving, 
but  in  kind  words  and  pleasant  smiles ;  and  many  a  poor 
12 


178 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN. 


soldier-boy,  far  away  from  home  and  dear  ones  whom  he 
longs  to  see,  has  been  cheered  by  beholding  the  Presi- 
dent's tall  form  enter  the  crowded  hospital,  and,  with  a 
manner  showing  his  fatherly  interest,  pass  around  among 
his  "  boys,"  as  he  called  them.  They  called  him  "  Uncle 


VISIT  TO  A  HOSl'lTAL. 


Abe;"  and  one  such  visit  from  him,  in  whose  countenance 
they  could  read  the  real  interest  he  felt  for  them,  was 
enough  to  bind  their  loyal  hearts  still  more  firmly  to  him, 
and  to  the  cause  which  he  represented.  More  than  one 
bereaved  family  to-day  blesses  the  memory  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  as  they  remember  how  -he  cheered  in  his  hour 
of  sickness,  and  even,  it  might  be,  beneath  the  shadow- 
ing wing  of  the  death-angel,  the  dear  soldier-boy  whom 
they  gave  to  their  country. 

President  Lincoln  declares  plainly,  and  in  so  doing 
manifests  his  own  faith  in  God,  that  a  power  beyond 
himself  led  to  many  of  the  wisest  acts  of  his  administra 
fcion.  In  the  letter  to  A.  G.  Hodges,  where  he  speaks 


CHRISTIAN  WORDS  AND  DEEDS.  170 

of  his  course  in  regard  to  slavery,  saying,  "  Whsn,  early 
in  the  war,  Gen.  Fremont  attempted  military  emanci- 
pation, I  forbade  it,  because  I  did  not  then  think  it  an 
indispensable  necessity;  when,  a  little  later,  Gen.  Cam- 
eron, then  Secretary  of  War,  suggested  the  arming  of 
the  blacks,  I  then  objected,  because  I  did  not  yet  think 
it  an  indispensable  necessity ;  when,  stHl  later,  Gen. 
Hunter  attempted  military  emancipation,  I  again  forbade 
it,  because  I  did  not  yet  think  the  indispensable  neces- 
sity had  come,"  &c, —  he  concludes  with  these  words, 
concerning  the  most  Christian  deed  of  his  whole  life :  — 

"I  claim  not  to  have  controlled  events,  but  confess 
plainly  that  events  have  controlled  me.  Now,  at  the.  end 
of  three  years'  struggle,  the  nation's  condition  is  not  what 
either  party  or  any  man  desired  or  expected.  God 
alone  can  claim  it.  Whither  it  is  tending  seems  plain. 
If  God  now  wills  the  removal  of  a  great  wrong,  and 
wills  also  that  we  of  the  North,  as  well  as  you  of  the 
South,  shall  pay  fairly  for  our  complicity  in  that  wrong, 
impartial  history  will  find  therein  new  cause  to  attest 
and  review  the  justice  and  goodness  of  God." 

No  place  may  be  more  fitting,  perhaps,  than  this  chap- 
ter, for  those  words  spoken  at  Gettysburg,  Nov.  19,  1863, 
which  indicate  so  plainly  his  deep  appreciation  of  that 
patriotism  which  was  willing  to  die  for  country  and  God, 
and  which  reveal  the  tenderness  of  his  spirit.  They 
are  as  follows  :  — 

"Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago,  our  fathers  brought 
forth  upon  this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in  lib- 
erty, and  dedicated  to  the  proposition,  that  all  men  are 
created  equal.  Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil 
war,  testing  whether  that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  con- 
ceived  and  so  dedicated,  can  long  endure.  We  are  met 
on  a  great  battle-field  of  that  war.  We  are  met  to  dedi- 


ISO  AJIRAIIAM  LINCOLN. 

cate  a  portion  of  it  as  the  final  resting-place  of  those 
who  here  gave  their  lives  that  a  nation  might  live.  It  is 
altogether  fitting  and  proper  that  we  should  do  this. 

"But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate,  we  cannot 
consecrate,  we  cannot  hallow,  this  ground.  The  brave 
men,  living  or  dead,  who  struggled  here,  have  conse- 
crated it  far  above  any  power  to  add  or  detract.  The 
world  will  little  note,  nor  long  remember,  what  we  say 
here ;  but  it  can  never  forget  what  they  did  here.  It  is 
for  us,  the  living,  rather,  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the  un- 
finished work  that  they  have  thus  far  so  nobly  carried 
on.  It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great 
task  remaining  before  us,  —  that  from  these  honored  dead 
we  take  increased  devotion  to  the  cause  for  which  they 
here  highly  resolved  that  the  dead  shall  not  have  died  in 
vain;  that  the  nation  shall, under  God,  have  a  new  birth 
of  freedom ;  and  that  the  government  of  the  people,  by 
the  people,  and  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the 
earth." 

It  is  well  known  that  the  President  was  fond  of  a  poem 
entitled  — 

"  Oh!  why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud?  " 

It  is  a  poem,  a  love  for  which  indicates  a  spirit  of  true  hu- 
mility on  the  part  of  one  who  prefers  it.  Mr.  Carpenter 
«a}Ts,  "The  circumstances  under  which  this  copy  was 
written  are  these :  I  was  with  the  President  alone  one 
•evening  in  his  room,  during  the  time  I  was  painting  my 
(arge  picture  at  the  White  House  last  year.  He  presently 
threw  aside  his  pen  and  papers,  and  began  to  talk  to  me 
of  Shakspeare.  He  sent  little  'Tad/  his  son,  into  the 
library  to  bring  a  copy  of  the  plays,  and  then  read  to  me 
several  of  his  favorite  passages,  showing  genuine  appre- 
ciation of  the  great  poet  Relapsing  into  a  sadder  strain, 


CHRISTIAN   WORDS  AND  DEEDS.  181 

he  laid  his  book  aside,  and,  leaning  back  in  his  chair,  said, 
'  There's  a  poem  which  has  been  a  great  favorite  with 
me  for  years,  which  was  first  shown  to  me,  when  a  young 
man,  by  a  friend,  and  which  I  afterwards  saw,  and  cut 
from  a  newspaper,  and  learned  by  heart.  I  would,'  he 
continued,  '  give  a  great  deal  to  know  who  wrote  it ;  but 
I  have  never  been  able  to  ascertain.' " 

Then,  half  closing  his  eyes,  he  repeated  to  me  the  lines 
which  I  enclose  to  you.  Greatly  pleased  and  interested, 
I  told  him  I  would  like,  if  ever  an  opportunity  occurred, 
to  write  them  down.  He  said  he  would  some  time  try  to 
give  them  to  me.  A  few  days  afterward,  he  asked  me  to 
accompany  him  to  the  temporary  studio  of  Mr.  Swayne, 
the  sculptor,  who  was  making  a  bust  of  him  at  the 
Treasury  Department.  While  he  was  sitting  for  the  bust, 
I  was  suddenly  reminded  of  the  poem,  and  said  to  him 
that  THEN  would  be  a  good  time  to  dictate  to  me.  He 
complied  ;  and  sitting  upon  some  books  at  his  feet,  as 
nearly  as  I  can  remember,  1  wrote  the  lines  down,  one 
by  one,  as  they  fell  from  his  lips." 

The  first  stanza  reads  thus :  — 

"  Oh !  why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud? 
Like  a  fast-flitting  meteor,  a  fast-flying  cloud, 
A  flash  of  the  lightning,  a  break  of  the  wave, 
He  passes  from  life  to  his  rest  in  the  grave." 

The  closing  stanza  is  as  follows  :  — 

"  'Tis  the  twink  of  an  eye,  'tis  the  draught  of  a  breath, 
From  the  blossom  of  health  to  the  paleness  of  death, 
From  the  gilded  saloon  to  the  bier  and  the  shroud: 
Oh!  why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud?  " 

There  may  well  be  added  to  this  chapter  the  following 
letter  written  by  the  President  to  Mrs.  Eliza  P.  Gurney, 
an  American  lady,  the  widow  of  the  late  well-known 


182  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Friend  and  philanthropist,  Joseph  John  Gurney,  one  of 
the  wealthiest  bankers  of  London :  — 

"  MY  ESTEEMED  FRIEND,  —  I  have  not  forgotten,  prob- 
ably never  shall  forget,  the  very  impressive  occasion 
when  yourself  and  friends  visited  me  on  a  sabbath  fore- 
noon two  years  ago.  Nor  had  your  kind  letter,  written 
nearly  a  year  later,  ever  been  forgotten.  In  all  it  has 
been  your  purpose  to  strengthen  my  reliance  in  God.  I 
am  much  indebted  to  the  good  Christian  people  of  the 
country  for  their  constant  prayers  and  consolations,  and 
to  no  one  of  them  more  than  to  yourself.  The  purposes 
of  the  Almighty  are  perfect  and  must  prevail,  though  we 
erring  mortals  may  fail  accurately  to  perceive  them  in 
advance.  We  hoped  for  a  happy  termination  of  this 
terrible  war  long  before  this ;  but  God  knows  best,  and 
has  ruled  otherwise.  We  shall  yet  acknowledge  his  wis- 
dom and  our  own  errors  therein :  meanwhile,  we  must 
work  earnestly  in  the  best  lights  he  gives  us,  trusting 
that  so  working  still  conduces  to  the  great  end  he  or- 
dains. Surely  he  intends  some  great  good  to  follow 
this  mighty  commotion,  which  no  mortal  could  make,  and 
no  mortal  could  stay. 

"  Your  people,  the  Friends,  have  had,  and  are  having, 
very  great  trials,  on  principles  and  faith  opposed  to  both 
war  and  oppression.  They  can  only  practically  oppose 
oppression  by  war.  In  this  hard  dilemma,  some  have 
chosen  one  horn,  and  some  the  other. 

"  For  those  appealing  to  me  on  conscientious  grounds, 
I  have  done,  and  shall  do,  the  best  I  could  and  can,  in 
my  own  conscience,  under  my  oath  to  the  law.  That 
you  believe  this,  I  doubt  not ;  and,  believing  it,  I  shall 
still  receive  for  our  country  and  myself  your  earnost 
prayer  to  our  Father  in  heaven. 

"  Your  sincere  friend, 

"A.  LINCOLN." 


CHRISTIAN   WORDS  AND  DEEDS.  183 

In  closing  this  record  of  the  Christian  words  and  deeds 
of  our  late  President,  it  may  be  well  to  add  that  many 
more  incidents  might  be  given,  did  the  limits  of  this  vol- 
ume allow.  Enough  has  been  given  to  show,  that,  what- 
ever his  peculiar  belief  on  religious  topics  of  a  doctrinal 
character,  at  heart  and  in  his  life  he  was  a  child  of  God, 
and  "  lived  religion" 

"  For  modes  of  faith,  let  graceless  zealots  fight: 
His  can't  be  wrong  whose  life  is  in  the  right."  * 

President  Lincoln's  life  was  right.  He  was  ever  giv- 
ing the  cup  of  cold  water  ;  and,  verily,  he  shall  receive 
a  righteous  man's  reward. 

*  Pope's  "  Essay  on  Man." 


CHAPTER    XL 

CHOSEN    AGAIN. 

44  Not  lightly  fall  beyond  recall 

The  written  scrolls  a  breath  can  float: 
The  crowning  fact,  the  kingliest  act 
Of  freedom,  is  the  freeman's  vote. 

So  shall  our  voice  of  sovereign  choice 

Swell  the  deep  bass  of  duty  done, 
And  strike  the  key  of  time  to  be, 

When  God  and  man  shall  speak  as  one." 

WHtTTIER. 

"  But  the  Lord  said  unto  him,  Go  thy  way,  for  he  is  a  chosen  vessel  unto  me; 
,  .  .  for  1  will  show  him  how  great  things  he  must  suffer  for  my  name's  sake."  — 
ACTS  ix.  15,  16. 

IN  the  sixth  chapter,  the  course  pursued  by  the  Presi- 
dent during  the  troublous  times  in  which  he  governed 
was  traced  up  to  a  certain  point;  though,  designedly, 
not  as  minutely  as  a  history  of  those  times  would  re- 
quire. The  succeeding  chapters  have  had  reference 
more  particularly  to  the  man  whom  God  gave  to  those 
times.  Reference  will  now  be  had,  briefly,  to  the  course 
of  events.  These  were  of  various  character  ;  sometimes 
bright  with  victor}7,  sometimes  shadowed  with  defeat. 

"  The  ten  months  which  divide  the  fall  of  Fort  Donel- 
son  (Feb.  1C,  1862)  from  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg 
(Dec.  13,  1862)  constitute  the  depressing  era  of  military 
uncertainty.  Administrative  ability,  executive  resolu- 
tion and  hardihood,  were  never  more  impressively  dis- 
played than  during  this  disheartening  period ;  but,  in 
spite  of  it,  inconstant  victory  seemed  to  vibrate  between 
the  hostile  banners. 

184 


CHOSEN  AGAIN.  185 

"  The  encouraging  results  of  luka  and  Corinth,  and  the 
opening  of  the  Upper  Mississippi,  inspired  the  national 
heart  with  new  confidence  in  the  protection  of  Heaven 
and  in  the  heroism  of  our  Western  soldiers.  Brave  old 
Farragut  earns  the  grade  of  Admiral,"  and  the  sobriquet 
Salamander,  by  leading  his  thundering  armada  through  the 
feu  d'enfer  which  belched  from  Fort  Philip  on  the  right, 
and  Fort  Jackson  on  the  left ;  and  the  martial  and  finan- 
cial heart  of  the  Rebellion  in  the  South-west  is  palsied 
when  the  guns  of  his  fleet  sweep  the  streets  of  New  Or- 
leans, and  the  Tamer  of  Cities  hangs  up  its  scalp  in  his 
wigwam.  War  surges  and  resurges  over  the  devoted 
plains  of  Missouri  and  Arkansas.  The  Peninsular  cam- 
paign, with  its  checkered  fortunes,  alternately  excites 
exultation  and  wailing;  but  its  final  failure  plants  in  ths 
national  heart  the  seeds  of  despair,  while  the  whirlwind 
which  devours  the  army  of  Pope  constrains  us  to  doubt 
the  justice  of  God.  The  victories  of  South  Mountain 
and  Antietam,  fairly  costing  their  weight  in  gore,  and 
turning  to  ashes  in  our  grasp,  failed  to  re-animate  our 
hopes ;  while  Pittsburg  Landing  and  Shiloh  are  more 
than  counterpoised  by  the  heart-rending  butchery  of 
Fredericksburg.  .  .  .  The  definitive  proclamation  was 
promulged  on  the  first  of  January,  1863 ;  and  it  seems 
instantly  to  have  been  visited  with  that  '  gracious  favor ' 
which  it  so  reverently  implores.  From  that  eventfu' 
date,  Federal  ascendency  flows  surely  and  steadily  on  to 
the  capture  of  Richmond  and  the  surrender  of  Lee.  Re- 
verses and  checks,  it  is  true,  intervene ;  but  they  are 
only  eddies  in  the  Amazon.  During  these  twenty-seven 
controlling  months  of  the  war,  into  which  more  general 
engagements  were  crowded  than  into  any  equal  period 
of  the  world's  history,  the  loss  of  but  one  attests  the 
advent  of  higher  inspiration  and  divine  re-enforcement 


186  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

to  our  struggling  cause.  The  ink  with  which  the 
proclamation  is  written  is  scarcely  dry  upon  the  parch- 
ment before  the  decisive  victory  of  Murfreesborough  ex- 
pels invasion  from  Southern  Tennessee.  On  the  nation's 
birthday  which  next  follows  it,  propitious  Heaven  almost 
visibly  interfered  by  breaking  the  last  barrier  which 
prevents  the  '  loyal  Father  of  Waters '  from  flowing  free 
and  unobstructed  through  the  divided  Rebellion,  and  by 
sweeping  back  from  the  bristling  hills  of  Gettysburg 
the  army  of  the  alien  in  its  last  desperate  raid  into  the 
bosom  of  the  North.  Away  up  in  mid  air,  on  the  cloud- 
capped  crests  of  the  South-eastern  Alleghanies,  there  is 
the  roar  and  lurid  flame  of  battle,  as  if  the  pent-up  fires 
of  the  caverns  of  earth  were  bursting  from  their  thun- 
der-riven summits;  while  down,  down  in  the  deep  valley, 
it  seems  as  if  the  elements  of  Nature  were  battering 
chasms  arid  pathways  through  their  granite  foundations. 
The  gates  of  Georgia  yield  to  the  flushed  battalions  of 
the  Cumberland;  and,  from  the  Altamaha  to  Cape  Fear, 
three  great  States  of  the  Confederacy  soon 

"  Feel  the  rider's  tread, 
And  know  the  conquered  knee." 

Hood  is  hurled  by  his  infatuated  chieftain  against  the 
battlements  of  Nashville,  only  to  be  dashed  back  broken 
and  destroyed.  The  vale  of  the  Shenandoah  is  swept 
by  the  besom  and  scourged  by  the  wrath  of  Sheridan. 
Over  the  forest  which  sweeps  from  the  Rapidan  to  the 
James,  there  hangs,  in  early  spring-time,  a  dark  and  por- 
tentous cloud  :  the  Wilderness  is  red,  as  if  untimely  au- 
tumn had  purpled  its  foliage.  We  dimly  hear,  far  in  its 
resounding  depths,  that  awe-inspiring  roll,  that  sharp, 
suggestive  rattle,  which  forewarns  and  terrifies  na- 


CHOSRtf  AGAIN.  187 

tions ;  and  ever  and  anon  a  woe-begone  messenger, 
such  as 

'  Drew  Priam's  curtain  at  the  dead  of  night, 
And  told  him  half  his  Troy  was  buried,' 

breaks  from  the  sequestered  thicket,  with  a  tantalizing 
tale  of  the  fierce,  sanguinary,  but  indecisive  shock  and 
recoil  of  embattled  hosts.  What  weeks  of  heartrending 
surprise  !  But  finally,  from  the  saturnalia  of  death  and 
butchery,  long  rampant  in  its  sombre  and  haunted  re- 
cesses, he  of  the  iron  will  and  inflexible  tenacity  at 
length  emerges  in  the  resplendent  robes  of  victory,  and 
day  after  day  for  persistent  months,  unmoved  by  clamor, 
undismayed  by  failure,  unwearied  by  resistance,  slowly 
tightens  an  irresistible  coil  round  the  wailing  capital  of 
sin,  until,  faint  and  gasping,  it  falls  into  the  arms  of  a 
negro  brigade.  City  after  city,  harbor  after  harbor,  suc- 
cumb. The  coast  is  hermetically  sealed  from  Norfolk  to 
Galveston,  and  the  magazines  and  arsenals  of  England 
and  France  no  longer  pour  their  strengthening  tides  into 
the  decaying  veins  of  the  worn-out  Confederacy.  Sheri- 
dan rolls  up  the  Confederate  right  like  a  scroll,  and  hangs 
on  its  flying  flank  with  the  scent  of  a  hound  and  the 
snap  of  a  terrier.  Lee  surrenders  his  decimated  horde  ; 
and  over  the  old,  endeared,  precious  inheritance,  from 
the  Rappahanock  to  the  Sabiue,  up  flies  the  banner,  down 
droops  the  rag."  * 

A  more  eloquent  description  of  the  events  which 
transpired  from  the  dawn  of  freedom  for  an  enfranchised 
race,  to  the  dawn  of  peace  for  a  redeemed  nation,  could 
scarcely  be  permed.  And,  all  the  while  that  these  events 
were  transpiring,  President  Lincoln  was  sending  up  from 
the  White  House  his  fervent  prayers,  and  forth  to  our 

•  Hon.  H.  C.  Demhig. 


188  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

brave  soldiers  his  earnest  sympathy.  All  the  while 
the  Government  was  upheld,  and  unfaltering  hearts 
kept  close  to  the  national  flag,  though  it  was  torn  and 
gory. 

"  Is  there  an  element  of  stress  and  pressure  that  could 
be  brought  to  bear  on  any  Government  that  was  not 
brought  to  bear  upon  ours  ?  Confessedly  there  was  a 
stress  upon  it  which  no  other  Government  could  have 
borne.  Upon  a  people,  all  whose  habits  and  interests 
and  tastes  were  those  of  peace,  there  was  suddenly 
sprung  a  war,  and  not  merely  that,  but  a  civil  war,  and 
one  unprecedented  in  its  gigantic  proportions.  Then  at 
a  moment,  and  under  circumstances  of  the  greatest  dis- 
advantage, came  the  call  for  men;  and  they  went.  It 
came  for  more  and  more, — 'six  hundred  thousand  more;' 
and  the  men  were  ready.  Next,  and  to  a  people  always 
charged  with  loving  money  over-much,  came  the  call  for 
money ;  and  the  money  was  ready.  Taxes  came  in  new 
forms ;  but  not  only  were  they  paid,  the  people  were 
clamorous  for  them.  Money  was  poured  out  like  water, 
and  as  never  before,  for  bounties,  as  a  loan  to  the  Govern- 
ment, for  the  Sanitary  and  Christian  Commissions,  for  the 
refugees  and  freedmen.  Meantime  battles  were  disas- 
trous ;  faint-heartedness,  and  even  treason,  were  not 
wanting  in  the  North  ;  our  English  friends  pronounced 
our  cause  hopeless,  and  did  what  they  could  to  make  it 
so ;  homes  were  desolated ;  the  wounded  and  maimed 
walked  our  streets,  and  the  sickening  wail  of  exposure 
and  starvation  came  up  from  Southern  prisons.  In  the 
midst  of  all  this  came  a  new  and  unheard-of  trial,  —  the 
popular  election  of  a  Chief  Magistrate  by  a  great  nation 
in  time  of  civil  war.  How  solemn,  how  grand,  how 
quiet,  how  decisive,  was  that  day  1  It  was*  the  noblest 


GBOSBIT  AGAIN.  189 

triumph  of  the  war,  —  its  turning-point,  —  the  turning- 
point  in  the  destiny  of  our  country."  * 

The  presidential  election  took  place  on  the  8th  of  No- 
vember, 1864,  and  resulted  in  the  triumph  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
in  every  loyal  State  except  Kentucky,  New  Jersey,  and 
Delaware.  In  some  of  the  States,  their  soldiers  in  the 
field  were  allowed  to  vote;  and  the  military  vote  was 
almost  invariably  cast  for  Lincoln  and  Johnson.  The 
official  returns  for  the  entire  vote  polled  summed  up 
4,034,789.  Of  these,  Mr.  Lincoln  received  2,223,035,  and 
McClellan  received  1,811,754  ;  leaving  a  majority  of  411,- 
281  on  the  popular  vote.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected  by  a 
plurality  in  1860.  In  1864,  his  majority  was  decided  and 
unmistakable. 

At  a  late  hour  on  the  night  of  the  election,  the  Presi- 
dent was  serenaded  by  a  club  of  Pennsylvanians,  and  he 
thus  responded :  — 

"  FRIENDS  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS,  —  Even  before  I  had 
been  informed  by  you  that  this  compliment  was  paid  me 
by  loyal  citizens  of  Pennsylvania  friendly  to  me,  I  had 
inferred  that  you  were  of  that  portion  of  my  countrymen 
who  think  that  the  best  interests  of  the  nation  are  to  be 
subserved  by  the  support  of  the  present  Administration. 
I  do  not  pretend  to  say  that  you  who  think  so  embrace 
all  the  patriotism  and  loyalty  of  the  country ;  but  I  do 
believe,  and,  I  trust,  without  personal  interest,  that  the 
welfare  of  the  country  does  require  that  such  support 
and  indorsement  be  given.  I  earnestly  believe  that  the 
consequences  of  this  day's  work,  if  it  be  as  you  assume, 
and  as  now  seems  probable,  will  be  to  the  lasting  advan- 
tage, if  not  to  the  very  salvation,  of  the  country.  I  can- 

*  Bey.  Mark  Hopkins,  D.D. 


190  A6nAffAM  LTtfCOLtf. 

not  at  this  hour  say  what  has  been  the  result  of  tie 
election ;  but,  whatever  it  may  be,  I  have  no  desire  to 
modify  this  opinion, — that  all  who  have  labored  to-day  in 
behalf  of  the  Union  organization  have  wrought  for  the 
best  interest  of  their  country  and  the  world,  not  only  for 
the  present,  but  for  all  future  ages.  I  am  thankful  to  God 
for  this  approval  of  the  people  ;  but,  while  deeply  grate- 
ful for  this  mark  of  their  confidence  in  me,  if  I  know  my 
heart,  my  gratitude  is  free  from  any  taint  of  personal 
triumph.  I  do  not  impugn  the  motives  of  any  one 
opposed  to  me.  It  is  no  pleasure  to  me  to  triumph  over 
any  one  ;  but  I  give  thanks  to  the  Almighty  for  this  evi- 
dence of  the  people's  resolution  to  stand  by  free  govern- 
ment and  the  rights  of  humanity." 

On  the  6th  of  December,  1864,  the  President  sent  to 
Congress  his  usual  annual  message.  How  little  any  one 
dreamed  that  it  was  his  last  I  It  spoke  of  unchanged 
views  in  regard  to  the  slave,  and  expressed  a  desire  for 
peace  in  these  decisive  words :  "  In  stating  a  single  con- 
dition of  peace,  I  mean  simply  to  say  that  the  war  will 
cease  on  the  part  of  the  Government  whenever  it  shall 
have  ceased  on  the  part  of  those  who  began  it." 

On  his  way  to  Washington  to  fill  the  chair  of  the  Presi- 
dent, Mr.  Lincoln  spoke  at  Steubenville  of  the  fact,  that, 
if  a  President  should  adopt  a  wrong  policy,  the  oppor- 
tunity to  condemn  him  would  occur  in  four  years'  time  : 
"  Then,"  he  added,  "•  I  can  be  turned  out,  and  a  better 
man,  with  better  views,  be  put  in  my  place."  But  the 
people  were  satisfied.  They,  the  majority,  knew  of  no 
better  man  ;  and  so  he  whom  God  had  appointed  took 
the  chair  a  second  time.  The  following  is  his  second 
inaugural  address :  — 

"  FELLOW-CITIZENS, — At  this  second  appearing  to  take 
the  oath  of  the  presidential  office  there  is  less  occasion 


CffOSEff  AGATtf.  191 

for  an  extended  address  than  there  was  at  first.  Then  a 
statement  somewhat  in  detail  of  a  course  to  be  pursued 
seemed  very  Ctting  and  proper.  Now,  at  the  expiration 
of  four  years,  during  which  public  declarations  have  been 
constantly  called  forth  on  every  point  and  place  of  the 
great  contest  which  still  absorbs  the  attention,  and  en- 
grosses the  energies,  of  the  nation,  little  that  is  new  could 
be  presented. 

"  The  progress  of  our  arms  —  upon  which  all  else 
chiefly  depends  —  is  as  well  known  to  the  public  as  to 
myself;  and  it  is,  I  trust,  reasonably  satisfactory  and  en- 
couraging to  all.  With  high  hopes  for  the  future,  no  pre- 
diction in  regard  to  it  is  ventured. 

"  On  the  occasion  corresponding  to  this  four  years  ago, 
all  thoughts  were  anxiously  directed  to  an  impending 
civil  war.  All  dreaded  it ;  all  sought  to  avoid  it.  While 
the  inaugural  address  was  being  delivered  from  this 
place,  devoted  altogether  to  saving  the  Union  without 
war,  insurgent  agents  were  in  the  city  seeking  to 
destroy  it  without  war,  seeking  to  dissolve  the  Union, 
and  divide  the  effects  by  negotiation. 

"  Both  parties  deprecated  war;  but  one  of  them  would 
make  war  rather  than  let  the  nation  survive,  and  the 
other  would  accept  war  rather  than  let  it  perish;  and 
the  war  came. 

"  One-eighth  of  the  whole  population  were  colored 
slaves,  not  distributed  generally  over  the  Union,  but 
located  in  the  Southern  part  of  it.  These  slaves  con- 
stituted a  peculiar  and  powerful  interest.  All  knew  that 
this  interest  was  somehow  the  cause  of  the  war.  To 
strengthen,  perpetuate,  and  extend  this  interest  was  the 
object  for  which  the  insurgents  would  rend  the  Union  by 
war,  while  the  Government  claimed  no  right  to  do  more 
than  to  restrict  the  territorial  enlargement  of  it. 


192  AZRAffAAI  LINCOLN. 

"  Neither  party  expected  for  the  war  the  mignitude  or 
the  duration  which  it  has  already  attained.  Neither  an- 
ticipated that  the  cause  of  the  conflict  might  cease,  even 
before  the  conflict  itself  should  cease.  Each  looked  for 
an  easier  triumph,  and  a  result  less  fundamental  and 
astounding. 

"  Both  read  the  same  Bible,  and  pray  to  the  same  God, 
and  each  invokes  his  aid  against  the  other.  It  may  seem 
strange  that  any  men  should  dare  to  ask  a  just  God's 
assistance  in  wringing  their  bread  from  the  sweat  of 
other  men's  faces ;  but  let  us  judge  not,  that  we  be  not 
judged.  The  prayers  of  both  should  not  be  answered. 
That  of  neither  has  been  answered  fully.  The  Almighty 
has  his  own  purposes.  Woe  unto  the  world  because  of 
offences !  for  it  must  needs  be  that  offences  come ;  but 
woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the  offence  cometh  !  If  we 
shall  suppose  that  American  slavery  is  one  of  these 
offences,  which  in  the  providence  of  God  must  needs 
come,  but  which,  having  continued  through  his  ap- 
pointed time,  he  now  wills  to  remove,  and  that  he  gives 
to  both  North  and  South  this  terrible  war  as  the  woe  due 
to  those  by  whom  the  offence  came,  shall  we  discern 
there  is  any  departure  from  those  divine  attributes 
which  the  believers  in  a  living  God  always  ascribe  to 
him  ?  Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that 
this  mighty  scourge  of  war  may  speedily  pass  away. 
Yet  if  God  wills  that  it  continue  until  all  tho  wealth 
piled  by  the  bondman's  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of 
unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of 
blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by  another 
drawn  by  the  sword,  as  was  said  three  thousand  years 
ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said,  the  judgments  of  the  Lord 
are  true  and  righteous  altogether. 

"  With  malice  towards  none,  with  charity  for  all.  with 


CHOSEN  AGAIN.  193 

firmness  in  the  right  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right, 
let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we  are  in ;  to  bind 
up  the  nation's  wound ;  to  care  for  him  who  shall  have 
borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow  and  orphans ;  to  do 
all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  lasting 
peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all  nations." 

We  see  the  spirit  which  breathes  in  this  inaugural, 
and  we  cannot  but  love  the  memory  of  the  man  who 
wrote  it. 

"  The  most  unsparing  criticism,  denunciation,  and  ridi- 
cule never  moved  him  to  a  single  bitter  expression, 
never  seemed  to  awaken  in  him  a  single  bitter  thought. 
The  most  exultant  hour  of  party  victory  brought  no  ex- 
ultation to  him.  He  accepted  power,  not  as  an  honor,  but 
as  a  responsibility ;  and  when,  after'  a  severe  struggle, 
that  power  came  a  second  time  into  his  hands,  there  was 
something  preternatural  in  the  calmness  of  his  accept- 
ance of  it.  The  first  impulse  seemed  to  be  a  disclaimer 
of  all  triumph  over  the  party  that  had  strained  their  ut- 
most to  push  him  from  his  seat,  and  then  a  sober  girding- 
up  of  his  loins  to  go  on  with  the  work  to  which  he  was 
appointed. 

"  The  last  inaugural  was  characterized  by  a  tone  so 
peculiarly  solemn,  and  free  from  earthly  passion,  that  it 
seems  to  us  now,  who  look  back  on  it  in  the  light  of  what 
followed,  as  if  his  soul  had  already  parted  from  earthly 
things,  and  felt  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come.  It  was 
not  the  formal  State-paper  of  the  chief  of  a  party  in  an 
hour  of  victory,  so  much  as  the  solemn  soliloquy  of  a 
great  soul  reviewing  its  course  under  a  vast  responsi- 
bility, and  appealing  from  all  earthly  judgments  to  the 
tribunal  of  Infinite  Justice.  It  was  the  solemn  clearing 
of  his  soul  for  the  great  sacrament  of  death ;  and  the 

13 


194  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

words  that  he  quoted  in  it  with  such  thrilling  power 
were  those  of  the  adoring  spirits  that  veil  their  faces 
before  the  throne :  '  Just  and  true  are  thy  ways,  thou 
King  of  saints.'  "  * 

The  course  pursued  by  the  President  is  indorsed  by 
the  people  in  the  act  of  continuing  him  in  the  office 
which  he  had  so  faithfully  filled.  This  was  the  laurel 
wreath  with  which  they  crowned  him  as  a  conqueror, 
little  dreaming  that  the  angels  were  already  preparing 
a  garland  of  immortelles  for  the  brow  of  the  people's  Pre- 
sident, whose  brightness  and  beauty  would  remain  un 
dimmed  forever. 

*  Mrs.  Stowe,  in  "  Atlantic  Monthly,"  August,  18«6. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

LAST   DAYS   AND    A   NATION'S    GRIEF. 

"  This  Duncan 

Hath  borne  his  faculties  so  meek,  hath  been 
So  clear  in  his  great  office,  that  his  virtues 
Will  plead  like  angels,  trumpet-tongued,  a^ain-st 
The  deep  damnation  of  his  taking-off." 

SHAKSPEARE'S  Macbeth. 

"Man  goeth  to  his  long  home,  and  the  mourners  go  about  the  streets."  — 
ECCLES.  xii.  5. 

THE  hour  of  triumph  arrives.  Victory  no  longer 
hovers  between  the  contending  forces,  but  settles  down 
upon  the  standard  of  freedom.  Grant  and  Sherman  and 
Sheridan  have  done  their  work  bravely ;  and  they  and 
their  fellow-warriors,  officers  and  privates,  have  won  im- 
mortal honor;  for  "  Richmond  is  ours  !"  Lee  retreats! 
Grant  pursues  !  The  Confederate  President  is  a  flying 
fugitive;  and  he  whom  God  called  to  be  the  savior  of  a 
race  is  to  tread  the  streets  of  the  conquered  city,  —  the 
Babylon  that  had  fallen  I 

"  Carleton  "  *  narrates  in  his  own  graphic  style  the 
visit  of  the  President  to  Richmond,  calling  it  "  one  of  the 
memorable  events  of  the  week."  He  says,  •'  There  was 
no  committee  of  reception,  no  guard  of  honor,  no  grand 
display  of  troops,  no  assembling  of  an  eager  multitude  to 
welcome  him.  He  entered  the  city  unheralded.  .Six 
sailors,  armed  with  carabines,  stepped  upon  the  shore, 
followed  by  the  President,  who  held  his  little  son  by  the 
hand;  and  Admiral  Porter:  the  officers  followed,  and  six 
more  sailors  brought  up  the  rear." 

•  C.  C.  Ctffin,  Esq.,  in  "  Atlantic  Monthly  "  for  June,  1866. 

185 


196  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Mr.  Coffin  himself  was  there,  and  speaks  throughout  as 
an  eye-witness :  — 

"•  There  were  forty  or  fifty  freedmen,  who  had  been  sole 
possessors  of  themselves  for  twenty-four  hours,  at  work 
on  the  bank  of  the  canal,  securing  some  floating  timber, 
under  the  direction  of  a  lieutenant.  Somehow  they  ob- 
tained the  information  that  the  man  who  was  head  and 
shoulders  taller  than  all  others  around  him,  with  features 
large  and  irregular,  with  a  mild  eye  and  pleasant  coun- 
tenance, was  President  Lincoln. 

"  '  God  bless  you,  sah ! '  said  one,  taking  off  his  cap,  and 
bowing  very  low. 

"  '  Hurrah,  hurrah  !  President  Linkum  hab  come  ! '  was 
the  shout  which  rang  through  the  street. 

"  The  lieutenant  found  himself  without  a  command. 
What  cared  those  freedmen,  fresh  from  the  house  of 
bondagej  for  floating  timber  and  military  commands? 
Their  deliverer  had  come,  —  he  who,  next  to  the  Lord 
Jesus,  was  their  best  friend.  It  was  not  an  hurrah  that* 
they  gave,  but  a  wild,  jubilant  cry  of  inexpressible  joy. 

"  They  gathered  round  the  President,  ran  ahead,  hov- 
ered upon  the  flanks  of  the  little  company,  and  hung  like 
a  dark  cloud  upon  the  rear.  Men,  women,  and  children 
joined  the  constantly-increasing  throng.  They  camo 
from  all  the  by-streets,  running  in  breathless  haste,  shout- 
ing, hallooing,  and  dancing  with  delight.  The  men  threw 
up  their  hats;  the  women  waved  their  bonnets  and  hand- 
kerchiefs, clapped  their  hands,  and  sang,  '  Glory  to  God ! 
glory,  glory,  glory ! '  rendering  all  the  praise  to  God, 
who  had  heard  their  waitings  in  the  past,  their  moanings 
for  wives,  husbands,  children,  and  friends  sold  out  of 
their  sight,  had  given  them  freedom,  and,  after  long  years 
of  waiting,  had  permitted  them  thus  unexpectedly  to  be- 
hold the  face  of  their  great  benefactor. 


LAST  DATS  AND   A   NATION'S   GRIEF.  197 

" '  1  thank  you,  dear  Jesus,  that  I  behold  President 
f:inkum!'  was  the  exclamation  of  a  woman  who  stood 
upon  the  threshold  of  her  humble  home,  and,  with  stream- 
ing eyes  and  clasped  hands,  gave  thanks  aloud  to  the 
savior  of  men. 

"Another,  more  demonstrative  in  her  joy,  was  jumping, 
and  striking  her  hands  with  all  her  might,  crying,  '  Bless 
de  Lord,  bless  de  Lord,  bless  de  Lord  !'  as  if  there  could 
be  no  end  of  her  thanksgiving. 

"  The  air  rang  with  a  tumultuous  chorus  of  voices. 
The  streets  became  almost  impassable  on  account  of  the 
increasing  multitude.  Soldiers  were  summoned  to  clear 
the  way.  How  strange  the  event !  The  President  of 
the  United  States  —  he  who  had  been  hated,  despised, 
ma! igned,  above  all  other  men  living;  to  whom  the  vilest 
epithets  had  been  applied  by  the  people  of  Richmond  — 
was  walking  their  streets,  receiving  thanksgiving,  bless- 
ings, and  prayers  from  thousands  who  hailed  him  as  an 
ally  of  the  Messiah  !  .  .  . 

"Abraham  Lincoln  was  walking  their  streets;  and, 
worst  of  all,  that  plain,  honest-hearted  man  was  recog- 
nizing the  'niggers'  as  human  beings  by  returning 
their  salutations  !  The  walk  was  long,  and  the  President 
halted  a  moment  to  rest.  'May  de  good  Lord  bless  you, 
President  Linkum  ! '  said  an  old  negro,  removing  his  hat, 
and  bowing,  with  tears  of  joy  rolling  down  his  cheeks. 
The  President  removed  his  own  hat,  and  bowed  in  silence; 
but  it  was  a  bow  which  upset  the  forms,  laws,  customs, 
and  ceremonies  of  centuries.  It  was  a  death-shock  to 
chivalry,  and  a  mortal  wound  to  caste.  Recognize  a 
nigger!  Faugh!  A  woman  in  an  adjoining  house  be- 
held it,  and  turned  from  the  scene  in  unspeakable  dis- 
gust. There  were  men  in  the  crowd  who  had  daggers 
in  their  eyes  ;  but  the  chosen  assassin  was  not  there,  the 


198  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

hour  for  the  damning  work  had  not  come,  and  that  gr»»at 
hearted  man  passed  on  to  the  Executive  Mansion  of  the 
Confederacy. 

"  Want  of  space  compels  us  to  pass  over  other  scenes, 
— the  visit  of  the  President  to  the  State  House ;  the  jubi- 
lant shouts  of  the  crowd ;  the  rush  of  freedmen  into  the 
Capitol  grounds,  where,  till  the  appearance  of  their  de- 
liverer, they  had  never  been  permitted  to  enter  ;  the  ride 
of  the  President  through  the  streets;  his  visit  to  Libby 
Prison  ;  the  distribution  of  bread  to  the  destitute,"  &c. 

While  reminded  of  Washington  returning  the  salute 
of  a  negro  because  he  would  not  be  outdone  in  polite- 
ness, none  can  fail  to  recognize  even  more  than  politeness 
in  Lincoln's  act  of  courtesy.  It  was  justice,  strict,  im- 
partial justice,  that  lowered  the  brow  of  the  conqueror  to 
the  salutation  of  the  delivered. 

Joy  filled  the  North.  Bells  were  rung  with  jubilant 
and  untiring  energy.  Cannons  bayed  the  nation's  joy. 
Everywhere  there  was  gladness  on  human  faces.  Men 
clasped  hands  joyously,  and  the  words  "  victory  "  and 
"  peace "  were  on  every  tongue.  Even  those  whose 
dear  ones  would  never  return  from  the  field  of  battle 
thanked  God,  with  tearful  eyes  and  aching  hearts,  that 
such  precious  blood  had  not  been  shed  in  vain.  Draft- 
ing and  recruiting  was  stopped  in  the  loyal  States,  and 
"  all  went  merry  as  a  marriage-bell."  Scarcely  had  the 
people  ceased  shouting  over  the  fall  of  Richmond,  when 
there  came  tidings  of  the  surrender  of  Lee  ;  and  again 
the  bells  and  cannon  were  heard,  and  glad  hearts  thanked 
God  for  the  news. 

But,  hark!  the  jubilant  bells  cease.  On  the  air  at 
midnight,  in  more  than  one  city  in  our  land,  comes  the 
solemn  stroke  of  the  death-knell.  What  can  it  portend  1 
Housed  from  slumber  by  the  unwelcome  sound?  the  peo- 


LAST  DATS  AND  A  NATION'S  GRIEF.  199 

pie  learn  the  sad  and  shocking  tidings  that  their  beloved 
President  had  been  stricken  down  by  an  assassin's  hand, 
and  lay  bleeding  and  dying  in  the  capital  of  the  nation. 

The  morning  papers  tell  in  staring  capitals  the  hor- 
rid tale  :  "  The  President  is  insensible,  life  is  slowly 
ebbing  away,"  is  the  telegraphic  message  from  one  who 
watched  at  his  side;  and  before  nine  A.M.,  on  the  15th 
of  April,  1865,  flags  hang  at  half-mast,  minute-guns  are 
sounding,  bells  toll,  tears  fill  the  eyes  of  strong  men,  and 
women  and  children  weep,  as  for  their  own  beloved  dead; 
for  President  Lincoln  is  with  us  no  longer.  Slavery 
struck  its  final  blow,  and  orphaned  the  nation. 

Wearied  with  the  incessant  cares  of  his  office,  the 
President  sometimes  sought  rest  and  relaxation  from 
stern  duties  by  attending  the  theatre,  listening  to  the 
elocutional  powers  of  the  performers,  and  beholding  the 
success  with  which  the  actors  "  held  the  mirror  up  to 
nature." 

On  the  night  of  the  14th  of  April,  1865,  he  attended 
Ford's  Theatre  in  Washington,  partly  for  a  respite  and 
rest,  and  partly  that  the  people,  who  expected  his  pres- 
ence, might  not  be  disappointed.  He  did  not  dream  of  im- 
mediate danger.  Many  at  the  North  were  uneasy  at  the 
fact  that  the  President  was  exposed  to  danger  in  Rich- 
mond ;  but  he  did  not  fear.  To  a  friend  who  expressed  the 
idea  that  the  rebels  might  attempt  his  life,  he  said,  step- 
ping to  a  desk,  and  drawing  from  a  pigeon-hole  a  package 
of  letters,  "There,  every  one  of  these  contains  a  threat 
to  assassinate  me.  I  might  be  nervous  if  I  were  to 
dwell  upon  the  subject;  but  I  have  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  there  are  opportunities  to  kill  me  every  day  of 
my  life,  if  there  -are  persons  disposed  to  do  it.  It  is  not 
possible  to  avoid  exposure  to  such  a  fate,  and  I  shall 
not  trouble  myself  about  it." 


200  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

So  he  attended  the  theatre,  without  taking  precautions 
against  the  assassin  who  came,  all  unannounced,  to  his  un- 
guarded victim.  "  The  play  was  '  Our  American  Cousin.' 
While  all  were  intent  upon  its  representation,  the  report 
of  a  pistol  first  announced  the  presence  of  the  assassin,* 
who  uttered  the  word  "  Freedom  ! "  and  advanced  to- 
ward the  front.  Major  Rathbone  having  discerned  the 
murderer  through  the  smoke,  and  grappled  with  him, 
the  latter  dropped  his  pistol,  and  aimed  with  a  knife  at  the 
breast  of  his  antagonist,  who  caught  the  blow  on  the  up- 
per part  of  his  left  arm,  but  was  unable  to  detain  the 
desperado,  though  he  immediately  seized  him  again. 
The  villain,  however,  leaped  some  twelve  feet  down  upon 
the  open  stage,  tangling  his  spur  in  the  draped  flag  be- 
low the  box,  and  stumbling  in  his  fall. 

"  Recovering  himself  immediately,  he  flourished  his 
dagger,  shouted  '  Sic  semper  tyrannis ! '  and  '  The  South 
is  avenged  1 '  then  retreated  successfully  through  the 
labyrinth  of  the  theatre  —  perfectly  familiar  to  him  —  to 
his  horse  in  waiting  below.  Between  the  deed  of  blood 
and  the  escape,  there  was  not  the  lapse  of  a  minute. 
The  hour  was  about  half-past  ten.  There  was  but  one 
pursuer,  and  he  from  the  audience  ;  but  he  was  out- 
stripped. 

"  The  meaning  of  the  pistol-shot  was  soon  ascertained. 
Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  shot  in  the  back  of  the  head,  be- 
hind the  left  ear,  the  ball  traversing  an  oblique  line  to  ths 
right  ear.  He  was  rendered  instantly  unconscious,  and 
never  knew  friends  or  pain  again.  Having  been  con- 
veyed as  soon  as  possible  to  a  house  opposite  the  theatre, 
he  expired  there  the  next  morning  at  twenty-two  min- 
utes past  seven  o'clock, attended  by  the  principal  members 

*  J.  Wilkes  Booth. 


LAST  DATS  AND   A   NATION'S    GRIEP. 


201 


of  his  cabinet,  and  other  friends  ;  from  all  of  whom  the 
heart-rending  spectacle  drew  copious  tears  of  sorrow. 
Airs.  Lincoln  and  her  son  Robert  were  in  an  adjoining 
•ripnrtment :  the  former  bowed  down  with  anguish,  the 


THE  DEATH  OF  MB.  L1KCOU*. 

latter  strong  enough  to  sustain  and  console  her.  Soon 
after  nine  o'clock,  the  body  was  removed  to  the  White 
House  under  military  escort." 

There  the  body  was  embalmed,  and  prepared  for  the 
grave.  The  paraphernalia  of  mourning,  in  this  case  no 
heartless  display,  filled  the  house.  In  the  east  room,  the 
solemn  funeral  services  were  first  performed.  "  Near 
the  centre  of  the  room  stood  the  grand  catafalque,  upon 
which  rested  the  mortal  remains  of  the  illustrious  dead, 
enclosed  in  a  beautiful  mahogany  coffin  lined  with  lead, 
and  with  a  white  satin  covering  over  the  metal.  It  waa 
finished  in  the  most  elaborate  style,  with  four  silver 
handles  on  each  side,  stars  glistening  between  the  han- 
dles, and  a  vein  of  silver  winding  around  the  whole  case 
in  a'  serpentine  form.  To  the  edges  of  the  lid  hung  a 


202  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

nice  silver  tassel,  making  a  chaste  and  elaborate  fringe  to 
the  whole  case.  The  silver  plate  bore  the  simple  in- 
scription :  — 

ABRAHAM     LINCOLN, 

SIXTEENTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Born  February  12,  1809; 

Died  April  15,  1803. 

"The  catafalque  stood  lengthwise  to  the  room,  or  north 
and  south,  and  immediately  in  front  of  the  double  doors 
which  lead  to  the  side  hall.  The  floor  of  the  catafalque 
was  about  four  feet  in  height,  and  approached  by  one 
step  on  all  sides,  making  it  easy  to  view  the  face  of  the 
honored  dead.  Above  this  was  a  canopy,  in  an  arched 
form,  lined  on  the  under-side  with  white  fluted  satin, 
covered  otherwise  with  black  velvet  and  crape.  This 
was  supported  by  four  posts,  heavily  incased  with  the 
emblem  of  mourning.  The  canopy,  the  posts,  and  the 
main  body  of  the  catafalque,  were  festooned  with  crape, 
and  fastened  at  each  fold  with  rosettes  of  black  satin. 

"  On  the  top  of  the  coffin  lay  three  wreaths  of  moss 
and  evergreen,  with  white  plumes  and  lilies  inter- 
mingled. At  the  head  of  the  coffin,  standing  upon  the 
floor  of  the  catafalque,  and  leaning  against  the  metallic 
case,  stood  a  beautiful  cross,  made  of  japonicas,  lilies, 
and  other  white  flowers,  as  bright  and  blooming  as 
though  they  were  still  on  their  parent-stem,  and  had  not 
been  plucked  to  adorn  the  house  of  the  dead;  its  pure 
and  immaculate  white  furnishing  a  strong  contrast  with 
the  deep  black  on  all  sides.  On  the  foot  of  the  coffin  lay 
an  anchor  of  flowers.  Encircling  the  coffin,  in  a  ser- 
pentine form,  was  a  vine  of  evergreens  studded  with 
pure  white  flowers  ;  and  within  its  meandering  folds  were 
deposited  several  wreaths  of  the  same  material.  These 


LAST  DATS  AND  A  NATION'S   GRIEF.  203 

had  all  been  brought  by  some  friendly  hands,  the  tokens 
of  love  and  affection,  and  deposited  around  and  near 
the  case  that  contained  the  mortal  remains  of  the  man 
who  had  been  near  and  dear  to  them.  Here,  then,  were 
the  emblems  of  the  dead,  the  marks  of  rank,  the  tokens 
of  grief,  deep  and  sorrowful,  and  happiness  hereafter,  as 
well  as  hope  and  immortality  in  the  future.  Surely  the 
scene  in  honor  to  the  illustrious  dead  was  a  worthy  ex- 
hibition of  the  love,  esteem,  and  pride  of  a  free  people 
in  their  fallen  chief, —  fallen,  too,  in  the  midst  of  his  use- 
fulness, and  just  when  his  greatness  and  goodness  were 
being  recognized  by  all."  * 

A  newspaper,  speaking  of  those  present  at  his  funeral- 
service,  says,  "  Close  by  the  corpse  sat  the  relatives  of 
the  deceased,  —  plain,  honest,  hardy  people,  typical  as 
much  of  the  simplicity  of  our  institutions  as  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's self-made  eminence.  No  blood-relatives  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  were  to  be  found.  It  is  a  singular  evidence  of 
the  poverty  of  his  origin,  and  therefore  of  his  exceed- 
ing good  report,  that,  excepting  his  immediate  family, 
none  answering  to  his  name  could  be  discovered.  Mrs. 
Lincoln's  relations  were  present,  however,  in  some  force  : 
Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  Todd,  Gen.  John  B.  S.  Todd,  C.  M. 
Smith, Esq.,  and  Mr.  N.  W.  Edwards,  the  late  President's 
brother-in-law.  Plain,  self-made  people  were  here,  and 
wore  sincerely  affected.  Capt.  Robert  Lincoln  sat 
during  the  services  with  his  face  in  his  handkerchief, 
weeping  quietly ;  and  little  Tad,  his  face  red  and  heat- 
ed, cried  as  if  his  heart  would  break.  Mrs.  Lincoln, 
weak  now,  and  nervous,  did  not  enter  the  east  room,  nor 
follow  the  remains.  She  was  the  Chief  Magistrate's  lady 
yesterday  ;  to-day,  a  widow  bearing  only  an  immortal 
name." 

*  "  Lincoln  Memorial," 


204  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Clergymen  of  different  religious  denominations,  as 
was  eminently  fitting,  took  part  in  the  funeral  exercises. 
Rev.  Dr.  Hall,  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Washington, 
opened  the  services  by  reading  the  beautiful  service  of 
his  church  for  the  burial  of  the  dead.  Bishop  Simpson, 
of  the  Methodist-Episcopal  Church  of  Illinois,  then  of- 
fered prayer.  The  funeral  oration  was  next  delivered 
by  Rev.  P.  D.  Gurley,  D.D.,  a  Presbyterian  pastor,  of 
Washington,  in  whose  church  the  President  and  family 
were  accustomed  to  worship.  The  services  closed  with 
a  prayer  by  Dr.  Gray,  chaplain  of  the  United-States 
Senate.  In  his  oration,  whose  text  was,  "  Have  faith  in 
God"  (Mark  xi.  22),  Dr.  Gurley  said,- 

"  As  we  stand  here  to-day,  mourners  around  this  coffin 
and  around  the  lifeless  remains  of  our  beloved  Chief 
Magistrate,  we  recognize  and  we  adore  the  sovereignty 
of  God.  ...  It  was  a  cruel,  cruel  hand,  that  dark  hand 
of  the  assassin,  which  smote  our  honored,  wise,  and  no- 
ble President,  and  filled  the  land  with  sorrow.  But 
above  and  beyond  that  hand  there  is  another  which  we 
must  see  and  acknowledge,  —  it  is  the  chastening  hand 
of  a  wise  and  a  faithful  Father." 

After  continuing  for  some  time  in  this  strain,  endeavor- 
ing to  comfort  the  mourners  gathered  there,  he  spoke  of 
the  departed  thus :  "  The  people  confided  in  the  late  la- 
merted  President  with  a  full  and  loving  confidence. 
Probably  no  man  since  the  days  of  Washington  was 
ever  so  deeply  and  firmly  embedded  and  enshrined  in 
the  very  hearts  of  the  people  as  Abraham  Lincoln.  Nor 
was  it  a  mistaken  confidence  and  love.  He  deserved  it, 
deserved  it  well,  deserved  it  all.  He  merited  it  by  his 
character,  by  his  acts,  and  by  the  whole  tenor  and  tone 
and  spirit  of  his  life.  He  was  simple  and  sincere,  plain 
and  honest,  truthful  and  just,  benevolent  and  kind.  His 


LAST  DATS  AND  A   NATION'S   GRIEF.  205 

perceptions  were  quick  and  clear,  his  judgments  were 
calm  and  accurate,  and  his  purposes  were  good  and  pure 
beyond  question.  Always  and  everywhere  he  aimed 
and  endeavored  to  be  right  and  to  do  right.  His  integrity 
was  thorough,  all-pervading,  all-controlling,  and  incor- 
ruptible. It  was  the  same  in  every  place  and  relation,  in 
the  consideration  and  the  control  of  matters  great  or 
small, —  the  same  firm  and  steady  principle  of  power 
and  beauty,  that  shed  a  clear  and  crowning  lustre  upon 
all  his  other  excellences  of  mind  and  heart,  and  lecom- 
mended  him  to  his  fellow-citizens  as  the  man,  who  in  a 
time  of  unexampled  peril,  when  the  very  life  of  the  na- 
tion was  at  stake,  should  be  chosen  to  occupy  in  the 
country,  and  for  the  country,  its  highest  post  of  power 
and  responsibility.  How  wisely  and  well,  how  purely 
and  faithfully,  how  firmly  and  steadily,  how  justly  and 
successfully,  he  did  occupy  that  post,  and  meet  its  grave 
demands,  in  circumstances  of  surpassing  trial  and  diffi- 
culty, is  known  to  you  all,  known  to  the  country  and  to 
the  world.  He  comprehended  from  the  first  the  perils  to 
which  treason  had  exposed  the  freest  and  best  govern- 
ment on  the  earth,  the  vasts  interests  of  liberty  and 
humanity  that  were  to  be  saved  or  lost  forever  in  the 
urgent  impending  conflict :  he  rose  to  the  dignity  and 
rnomentousness  of  the  occasion ;  saw  his  duty  as  the 
Chief  Magistrate  of  a  great  and  imperilled  people  ;  and 
he  determined  to  do  his  duty,  and  his  whole  duty,  seek- 
ing the  guidance  and  leaning  on  the  arm  of  Him  of 
whom  it  is  written,  '  He  giveth  power  to  the  faint;  and 
to  them  that  have  no  might  he  increaseth  strength.' 
Yes:  he  leaned  upon  his  arm.  He  recognized  and  re- 
ceived the  truth, '  that  the  kingdom  is  the  Lord's,  and  he 
is  the  Governor  among  the  nations.'  Ho  remembered 
tiiat '  God  is  in  history,'  and  he  felt  that  nowhere  had 

18 


206  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

his  hand  and  his  mercy  been  so  marvellously  conspicu- 
ous as  in  the  history  of  this  nation.  He  hoped  and  he 
prayed  that  that  same  hand  would  continue  to  guide  us, 
and  that  same  mercy  continue  to  abound  to  us  in  the 
time  of  our  greatest  need.  I  speak  what  I  know,  and 
testify  what  I  have  ofttn  heard  him  say,  when  I  affirm 
that  that  guidance  and  mercy  were  the  props  on  whi^h 
he  humbly  and  habitually  learned ;  they  were  the  best 
hope  he  had  for  himself  and  for  his  country.  Hence, 
when  he  was  leaving  his  home  in  Illinois,  and  coming  to 
this  city  to  take  his  seat  in  the  Executive  Chair  of  a  dis- 
turbed and  troubled  nation,  he  said  to  the  old  and  tried 
friends  who  gathered  tearfully  around  him  and  bade  him 
farewell,  'I  leave  you  with  this  request, — pray  for  me.' 
They  did  pray  for  him ;  and  millions  of  others  prayed 
for  him  ;  nor  did  they  pray  in  vain.  Their  prayer  was 
heard,  and  the  answer  appears  in  all  his  subsequent  his- 
tory :  it  shines  forth  with  a  heavenly  radiance  in  the 
whole  course  and  tenor  of  his  administration,  from  its 
commencement  to  its  close.  God  raised  him  up  for  a 
great  and  glorious  mission,  furnished  him  for  his  work, 
and  aided  him  in  its  accomplishment.  Nor  was  it  mere- 
ly by  strength  of  mind,  and  honesty  of  heart,  and  purity 
and  pertinacity  of  purpose,  that  he  furnished  him.  In 
addition  to  these  things,  he  gave  him  a  calm  and  abiding 
confidence  in  the  overwhelming  providence  of  God,  and 
in  the  ultimate  triumph  of  truth  and  righteousness 
through  the  power  and  blessing  of  God.  This  confidence 
strengthened  him  in  all  his  hours  of  anxiety  and  toil, 
and  inspired  him  with  calm  and  cheering  hope  when  oth- 
ers were  inclined  to  despondency  and  gloom.  Never 
shall  I  forget  the  emphasis  and  the  deep  emotion  with 
which  he  said,  in  this  very  room,  to  a  company  of  cler- 
gymen and  others  who  called  to  pay  him  their  respects 


LAST  DATS  AND  A  NATION'S  GRIEP.  207 

in  the  darkest  days  of  cnr  civil  conflict,  '  Gentlemen, 
my  hope  of  success  in  this  great  and  terrible  struggle 
rests  on  that  immutable  foundation,  the  justice  and 
goodness  of  God ;  and,  when  events  are  very  threat- 
ening and  prospects  very  dark,  I  still  hope,  that,  in 
oome  way  which  man  cannot  see,  all  will  be  well  in  the 
end,  because  our  cause  is  just,  and  God  is  on  our  side.' 
.  .  .  God  be  praised  that  our  fallen  Chief  lived  long 
enough  to  see  the  day  dawn,  and  the  day-star  of  joy  and 
peace  rise  upon  the  nation  1  He  saw  it,  and  was  glad. 
Alas,  alas !  he  only  saw  the  dawn.  "When  the  sun  has 
risen  full-orbed  and  glorious,  and  a  happy  re-united  peo- 
ple are  rejoicing  in  its  light,  it  will  shine  upon  his  grave  ; 
but  that  grave  will  be  a  precious  and  a  consecrated 
spot.  The  friends  of  Liberty  and  of  the  Union  will  re- 
pair to  it,  in  years  and  ages  to  come,  to  pronounce  the 
memory  of  its  occupant  blessed ;  and  gathering  from  his 
very  ashes,  and  from  the  rehearsal  of  his  deeds  and  vir- 
tues, fresh  incentives  to  patriotism,  they  will  there  re- 
new their  vows  of  fidelity  to  their  country  and  their 
God." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  services,  the  body  of  the 
President  was  borne  to  the  capitol.  The  hearse  was 
built  for  the  occasion,  and  was  drawn  by  six  gray 
horses. 

"  The  funeral  cortege  started  with  military  precision 
at  ten  o'clock.  The  avenue  was  cleared  the  whole 
length  from  the  Presidential  Mansion  to  the  Capitol. 
Every  window,  house-top,  balcony,  and  every  inch  of 
the  sidewalks,  on  either  side,  was  densely  crowded  with 
a  living  throng  to  witness  the  procession.  In  all  this 
dense  crowd,  hardly  a  sound  was  heard.  People  con- 
versed with  each  other  in  suppressed  tones.  Presently 
the  monotonous  thump  of  the  funeral  drum  sounded 


208  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

upon  the  street,  and  the  military  escort  of  the  funeral 
car  began  to  march  past  with  solemn  tread,  muffled 
drums,  and  arms  reversed. 

"A  scene  so  solemn,  imposing,  and  impressive  as  that 
which  the  national  metropolis  presented,  and-  upon  which 
myriad  eyes  of  saddened  faces  were  gazing,  was  never 
witnessed,  under  circumstances  so  appalling,  in  any  por- 
tion of  our  beloved  country.  Around  us  is  the  capital 
city,  clad  in  the  habiliments  of  mourning  ;  above  us,  the 
cloudless  sky,  so  bright,  so  tranquil,  so  cheerful,  as  if 
heaven  would,  on  this  solemn  occasion,  specially  invite 
us,  by  the  striking  contrast,  to  turn  our  thoughts  from 
the  darkness  and  the  miseries  of  this  life  to  the  light 
and  the  joy  that  shine  with  endless  lustre  beyond  it. 
The  mournful  strains  of  the  funeral  dirge,  borne  on  the 
gentle  zephyrs  of  this  summer-like  day,  touch  a  respon- 
sive chord  in  every  human  heart  of  the  countless  thou- 
sands, that,  with  solemn  demeanor  and  measured  step, 
follow  to  their  temporary  resting-place,  in  the  National 
Capitol,  the  cold,  inanimate  form  of  one,  who,  living,  was 
the  honored  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  American  people, 
and,  dead,  will  ever  be  endeared  in  their  fondest  mem- 
ories. Never  did  a  generous  and  grateful  people  pay, 
in  anguish  and  tears,  a  tribute  more  sincere  or  merited 
to  a  kind,  humane,  and  patriotic  chieftain ;  never  were 
the  dark  and  bloody  deeds  of  crime  brought  out  in  relief 
so  bold,  and  in  horror  and  detestation  so  universal,  as  in 
the  sublime  and  imposing  honors  this  day  tendered  to 
the  corpse  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  Such  a  scene  is  the 
epoch  of  a  life-time.  Strong  men  are  deeply  affected ; 
gentle  women  weep;  children  are  awe-stricken:  none 
will  ever  forget  it.  Memory  has  consecrated  it  on  her 
brightest  tablet ;  and  it  will  ever  be  thought,  spoken, 


LAST  DATS  AND  A  NATION'S   GRIEF.  209 

and  written  of,  as  the  sublime  homage  of  a  sorrowing 
nation  at  the  shrine  of  the  martyred  patriot."  * 

Arrived  at  the  Capitol,  Rev.  Dr.  Gurley  offered  prayer, 
and  soon  the  services  were  over :  the  few  who  had  been 
permitted  to  enter  were  dismissed  from  the  rotunda, 
and  silence  reigned  around  the  coffin  of  the  honored 
dead. 

"  The  corpse  of  the  President  was  placed  beneath 
the  right  concave,  now  streaked  with  the  mournful  trap- 
pings, and  left  in  state,  watched  by  guards  of  officers 
with  drawn  swords.  This  was  a  wonderful  spectacle,  — 
the  man  most  beloved  and  honored,  in  the  ark  of  the  Re- 
public. The  storied  paintings,  representing  eras  in  its 
history,  were  draped  in  sable,  through  which  they  seemed 
to  cast  reverential  glances  upon  the  lamented  bier.  The 
thrilling  scenes  depicted  by  Trumbull,  the  commemora- 
tive canvases  of  Leutze,  the  wilderness  vegetation  of 
Powell,  glared  from  their  separate  pedestals  upon  the 
central  spot  where  lay  the  fallen  majesty  of  the  country. 
At  night  the  jets  of  gas,  concealed  in  the  spring  of  the 
dome,  were  lighted  up,  so  that  their  bright  reflection 
upon  the  frescoed  walls  hurled  masses  of  burning  light, 
like  marvellous  haloes,  upon  the  little  box  where  so 
much  that  was  loved  and  honored  rested,  on  its  way  to 
the  grave;  and  so,  through  the  starry  night,  in  the  fane 
of  the  great  Union  he  had  strengthened  and  recovered 
the  ashes  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  zealously  guarded,  lay  in 
calm  repose. "f 

The  acting  Secretary  of  State  (Secretary  Seward 
having  been  wounded  in  an  attempt  made  to  assassinate 
him  on  the  same  night  with  the  President),  Mr.  Hunter, 
issued  the  following  official  document :  — 

•  "  Lincoln  Memorial,"  p.  147.  t  Ibid.,  p.  188. 


2lO  ABRAHAM   LIUCOLti. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE,  WASHncoroir,  April  17, 1866. 

To  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  UMTED  STATES  :  — 

The  undersigned  is  directed  to  announce  that  the 
funeral  ceremonies  of  the  lamented  Chief  Magistrate  will 
take  place  at  the  Executive  Mansion,  in  this  city,  at 
twelve  o'clock,  noon,  on  Wednesday,  the  19tB  inst.  The 
various  religious  denominations  throughout  the  country 
are  invited  to  meet  in  their  respective  places  of  worship 
at  that  hour,  for  the  purpose  of  solemnizing  the  occasion 
with  appropriate  ceremonies. 

W.  HUNTER,  Acting  Secretary  of  State. 

Throughout  the  loyal  States,  the  day  of  the  funeral 
was  observed,  and  never  with  more  sincerity.  Churches, 
streets,  houses,  stores,  were  draped  in  mourning:  flags 
were  hung  at  half-mast,  minute-guns  were  fired,  and  con- 
gregations assembled,  bowed  with  grief,  in  all  the  larger 
towns,  to  join  in  services  appropriate  to  the  day.* 

*  In  Beading,  Mass.,  the  following  hymn,  written  by  the  author  of  the?* 
pages,  wa.i  song  by  members  of  the  Congregationalist,  UniversalLst,  and  Bap- 
tist choirs,  in  the  largest  church  of  the  town,  where,  as  one  stricken,  synjpa 
thizing  family,  the  inhabitants  were  gathered :  — 

FUNERAL  HTiEN'.    Air,—  "  Jfount  Ternon" 
Hashed  to-day  are  sounds  of  gl  .dness, 

From  the  mountains  to  the  sea; 
And  the  plaintive  voice  of  sadness 
Rises,  mighty  God,  to  thee. 

Freedom  claimed  another  martyr; 

Heaven  received  another  saint : 
Who  are  we,  thy  will  to  question? 

Lord,  we  weep  without  complaint. 

May  we,  to  thy  wisdom  bowing. 

Own  thy  love  in  this  dart  -pell, 
While  with  tears  a  mighty  nation 

Buries  one  it  loved  so  well  I 

And,  O  Thou  who  took  oar  leader, 

With  the  Promised  Land  in  view, 
While  on  Pisgah's  height  we  leave  him. 

Lead  us,  Lord,  tbe  Jordan  throojrt. 


LASJ    DAYS  AND  A  NATION'S  Gr.lBF.  211 

While  the  people  sympathized  with  the  bereaved  family 
of  the  martyred  President,  and  those  who  had  been 
made  widows  during  the  war  sympathized  deeply  with 
Mrs.  Lincoln  (to  whom  even  the  Queen  of  England  sent 
in  autograph  letter,  assuring  her  of  the  sympathy  of  a 
widowed  heart),  yet  it  was  not  only  as  those  who  felt  for 
others  that  the  people  mourned.  They  had  themselves 
lost  a  friend.  They  mourned  with  a  sense  of  personal 
bereavement.  Many  families,  whose  dear  ones,  though 
exposed  to  the  perils  of  the  battle-field,  the  prison,  and 
the  hospital,  had  yet  returned  safely  to  their  homes,  now 
felt  that  they  had  some  one  for  whom  to  weep ;  since 
President  Lincoln  belonged  to  all.  Sublime  utterances 
of  faith  in  God,  tender  expressions  of  love  for  the  de- 
parted, and  words  of  solemn  instruction,  were  heard  on 
this  day  of  mourning;  and  each  loyal  hand  that  held 
"  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer  "  was  moved  to  add  a  tribute 
to  the  memory  of  the  nation's  martyr.  Mrs.  Stowe,  after 
speaking  of  the  rejoicings  over  victory,  adds, — 

"But  this  our  joy  has  been  ordained  to  be  changed 
into  a  wail  of  sorrow.  The  kind  hard  hand  that  held 
the  helm  so  steadily  in  the  desperate  tossings  of  the  storm 
has  been  stricken  down  just  as  we  entered  port ;  the 
fatherly  heart  that  bore  all  our  sorrows  can  take  no 
earthly  part  in  our  joys.  His  were  the  cares,  the  watch- 
ings,  the  toils,  the  agonies,  of  a  nation  in  mortal  struggle; 
and  God  looking  down  was  so  well  pleased  with  his  hum- 
ble faithfulness,  his  patient  continuance  in  well-doing, 
that  earthly  rewards  and  honors  seemed  all  too  poor  for 
him ;  so  he  reached  down,  and  took  him  to  immortal 
glories.  'Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant!  enter 
thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord.'  "  * 

»  ••  Atlantic  Monthly,"  Augiwt,  1866. 


212  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

The  remains  of  the  President  were  borne  from  Wash- 
ington  to  Springfield,  where  they  were  finally  deposited, 
by  way  of  Baltimore,  Harrisburg,  Philadelphia,  New 
York,  Albany,  Buffalo,  Cleveland,  Columbus,  and  Chi- 
cago,—  a  distance  in  circuit  of  about  eighteen  hundred 
miles.  All  along  the  route,  the  people  gathered  with  va- 
rious testimonials  of  respect,  and  evidences  of  grief  that 
was  great  and  sincere. 

The  body  rested,  while  in  Philadelphia,  in  that  hall, 
around  which  cluster  so  many  historical  memories,  and 
over  which,  four  years  before,  the  President  raised  the 
flag  of  our  country.  "The  bier  was  close  to  the  famous 
old  Liberty  Bell,  which  first  sounded  forth,  in  1776,  the 
tidings  of  independence. 

"  The  interior  of  the  hall,  as  well  as  the  exterior,  was 
heavily  draped  and  most  artistically  illuminated.  Around 
the  remains  were  appropriate  decorations,  leaves  of  ex- 
quisite evergreens,  and  flowers  of  an  exquisite  crimson 
bloom.  At  the  head  of  the  corpse  were  bouquets ; 
beneath,  the  flaming  tapers  at  the  feet ;  from  the  elabo- 
rately hung  walls,  the  portraits  of  the  great  and  good  dead 
were  eloquent  in  their  silence,  and  seemed  to  say  that 
not  one  of  the  great  actors  of  other  eras,  preserved  in 
canvas,  marble,  and  metal,  looking  down  like  living 
mourners  on  that  honored  catafalque,  ever  filled  his  space 
with  more  dignity  than  the  dead  Lincoln.  Not  Columbus 
from  his  brazen  door  ;  not  De  Soto  planting  his  cross  on 
the  Mississippi ;  not  Pocahontas  ;  not  Miles  Standish  on 
the  "  Mayflower ;  "  not  William  Penn  making  peace  Avith 
the  Indians ;  not  Benjamin  Franklin  in  his  philosophy ; 
not  the  fiery  Patrick  Henry  as  he  ejaculated  his  war-cry 
in  the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates,  nor  John  Adams  as 
he  shouted  it  in  Boston ;  not  Washington  with  his 
sword  ;  nor  Jefferson  with  his  pen  ;  nor  Hamilton  with 


LAST  DATS  AND  A  NATION'S  GRIEF.  213 

his  statesmanship  ;  nor  John  Jay  ;  nor  John  Marshall,  the 
purest  jurist  of  our  earlier  or  later  history ;  nor  Perry, 
the  sea-king  of  1812,  riding  on  billows  of  blood  througli 
a  line  of  blazing  ships ;  nor  Jackson,  with  his  triple  tri- 
umph over  savage  and  Briton  and  the  spirit  of  incipient 
treason,  —  not  one  was  more  worthy  of  the  genius  of  the 
poet,  the  painter,  the  sculptor,  and  the  orator,  than  the 
gentle  and  illustrious  patriot  whose  virtues  and  whoso 
genius  the  American  people  now  mourn."  * 

The  limits  of  this  volume  will  not  permit  further  men- 
tion of  the  funeral  honors.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  they 
were  such  as  were  never  paid  to  mortal  before,  and 
showed,  in  some  degree,  the  depth  of  the  national 
sorrow. 

Foreign  nations  sympathized  with  us  in  our  national 
loss.  While  those  who  had  voted  against  the  President 
now  mourned  as  sincerely  as  any  his  sad  and  sudden 
death,  the  event  awoke  sorrow  in  hearts  abroad  which 
had  sometimes  throbbed  in  sympathy  with  our  enemies. 
England  spoke  through  her  press  in  terms  of  abhorrence 
that  such  a  crime  had  been  committed,  and  in  words  of 
eulogy  concerning  the  martyred  one.  Earl  Russell  an- 
nounced to  the  House  of  Lords  the  private  letter  of 
Queen  Victoria  to  the  President's  widow.  Earl  Dei  by 
followed  with  words  of  sympathy. 

France  joined  in  the  general  horror  of  the  crime,  and 
sympathy  with  the  mourners.  Henri  Martin,  the  histo- 
rian, wrote  an  article,  headed,  "  A  great  Martyr  of  De- 
mocracy," commencing,  "  Slavery,  before  expiring,  ha.-- 
gathered  up  the  remnants  of  its  strength  and  rage  tn 
strike  a  coward  blow  at  its  conqueror."  In  Italy,  Belgi 
um,  and  Prussia,  suitable  notice  was  taken  of  the  sorrow- 

•  "  Lincoln  Memorial,"  p.  !"•. 


214  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

fill  event.  In  Portugal,  a  most  eloquent  address  was  de- 
livered in  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  at  Lisbon,  by  Sr. 
Rebello  da  Silva,  from  which  is  given  the  following 
extract : — 

"  Lincoln,  martyr  to  the  broad  principle  which  he  rep- 
resented in  power  and  struggle,  belongs  now  to  history 
and  to  posterity.  Like  Washington,  whose  idea  he  con- 
tinued,  his  name  will  be  inseparable  from  the  memorable 
epochs  to  which  he  is  bound,  and  which  he  expresses. 
If  the  defender  of  independence  freed  America,  Lincoln 
unsheathed  without  hesitation  the  sword  of  the  Republic, 
and  with  its  point  erased  and  tore  out  from  the  statutes 
of  a  free  people  the  anti-social  stigma,  the  anti-humani- 
tarian blasphemy,  the  sad,  shameful,  infamous  codicil  of 
old  societies,  the  dark,  repugnant  abuse  of  slavery,  which 
Jesus  Christ  first  condemned  from  the  top  of  the  cross, 
proclaiming  the  equality  of  man  before  God,  which  nine- 
teen centuries  of  civilization,  reared  in  the  gospel,  have 
proscribed  and  rejected  as  the  opprobrium  of  our  times." 

"  At  the  moment  when  he  was  breaking  the  chains  of  a 
luckless  race;  when  he  was  seeing  in  millions  of  rehabili- 
tated slaves  millions  of  future  citizens  ;  when  the  bronze 
voice  of  Grant's  victorious  cannon  was  proclaiming  the 
emancipation  of  the  soul,  of  the  conscience,  and  of  toil ; 
when  the  scourge  was  about  to  tall  from  the  hands  of 
the  scourgers  ;  when  the  ancient  slave-pen  was  about  to 
be  transformed,  for  the  captive,  into  a  domestic  altar ;  at 
the  moment  when  the  stars  of  the  Union,  sparkling  and 
resplendent  with  the  golden  fires  of  Liberty,  were  wav- 
ing over  the  subdued  walls  of  Petersburg  and  Rich- 
mond, .  .  .  the  sepulchre  opens,  and  the  strong,  the 
powerful,  enters  it.  In  the  midst  of  triumphs  and  accla- 
mations, there  appeared  to  him  a  spectre  like  that  of 


LAST  DATS  AND  A  NATION'S  GRIEF.  215 

Caesar  in  the  Ides  of  March,  saying  to  him, '  You  have 
lived ! ' 

"  Have  lived  !  Yes,  Lincoln  did  live  once,  in  the 
body ;  and  thank  God,  who  hath  made  man  immortal,  he 
liveth  still.  He  lives  !  He  lives  1  He  lives  to-day  in  hia 
imperishable  example,  in  his  recorded  words  of  wisdom, 
in  his  great  maxims  of  liberty  and  enfranchisement. 

"  The  good  never  die  ;  to  them  belongs  endurable  im- 
mortality ;  they  perish  not  upon  the  earth,  and  they  exist 
forever  in  heaven.  The  good  of  the  present  live  in  the 
future,  as  the  good  of  the  past  are  here  with  us  and  in 
us  to-day.  The  great  primeval  lawgiver,  entombed  for 
forty  centuries  in  that  unknown  grave  in  an  obscure  vale 
of  Moab,  to-day  legislates  in  your  halls  of  state,  and 
preaches  on  all  your  sabbaths  in  your  synagogues.  Sa- 
lem's  royal  singer  indites  our  liturgies,  and  leads  our 
worship.  Socrates  questions  atheists  in  these  streets. 
Phidias  sculptures  the  friezes  of  Christian  temples  ;  the 
desecrated  tongue  of  mangled  Tully  arraigns  our  C-iti- 
lines;  against  the  Philip  of  to-day  the  dead  Demosthe- 
nes thunders  ;  the  dead  Leonidas  guards  the  gates  of 
every  empire  which  wrestles  for  its  sovereignty  ;  the 
dead  Justinian  issues  in  your  country  the  living  man- 
dates of  the  law;  the  dead  Martin  Luther  issues  from 
your  press  the  living  oracles  of  God ;  the  dead  Napoleon 
sways  France  from  that  silent  throne  in  the  Invalides : 
the  dead  George  Washington  held  together  through 
wrangling  decades  this  brotherhood  of  States ;  and  the 
dead  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  will  peal  the  clarion  of  belea- 
gured  nations,  and  marshal  and  beckon  on  the  wavering 
battle  line  of  liberty  till  the  las4,  generation  of  man 

'  Shall  crwition's  death  beholj 
As  Adam  saw  her  prime-' 


218  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

His  fame  will  grow  brighter  and  grander  as  it  descends 
the  ages,  and  posterity  will  regard  him  as  the  incarna- 
tion of  democracy  in  its  pure  childhood,  as  the  embodi- 
ment of  those  ideas  of  universal  emancipation  which 
were  the  glory  of  its  faithful  epoch. 

..."  When  the  race  shall  have  finally  climbed  to  the 
lofty  table-land  of  UNIVERSAL  BROTHERHOOD,  to  which  it 
is  inevitably  destined  by  the  paramount  law  of  its  own 
development,  and  shall  turn  backward  its  wistful  eye  for 
those  who  have  led  its  weary  pilgrimage  through  passes 
the  most  perilous,  and  over  wastes  the  most  disheart- 
ening, they  will  instinctively  seek  the  uncourtly  figure 
of  that  forest-born  LIBERATOR,  who  by  one  glorious  edict 
restored  to  humanity  all  the  divine  equalities  enfeoffed 
upon  it  when  of  one  blood  all  the  children  of  men  were 
made,  and  thus  incorporated  into  harmonious  fraternity 
all  the  estranged  and  repellent  complexions  of  mankind. 
With  reverent  and  grateful  hearts  they  will  pour  their 
choicest  frankincense  at  his  feet,  crown  with  unfailing 
amaranth  the  brow,  and  by  eulogy,  statue,  column,  and 
obelisk,  and  every  aid  to  enduring  remembrance,  trans- 
mit to  new  and  ever-rising  futurities  the  irradiated 
name,  of  the  first  President  of  the  regenerated  Republic, 
that  martyr  to  liberty  and  law,  whom  on  this  shore  and 
border  of  time's  immensity  we  deplore  to-day, —  ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN."* 

God  gave  this  man,  whom  we  "  delight  to  honor."  to 
the  world  for  a  high  and  holy  work :  God  has  taken  him 
up  to  the  society  of  the  sin-freed  and  rejoicing  ones  of 
all  nations  and  of  all  time,  when  he  had  accomplished 
his  mission;  and  every  loyal  and  every  Christian  heart 
must  add,  "  Blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord  1 " 

•  Hon.  H.  C.  Demiug 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  217 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

SELECTIONS    FROM    SPEECHES    AND    LETTERS. 

BO  UN,  1509;  DIED,  18C3,  AGED  66.  — CAPTAIN  IX  THE  BLACK 
II AW  1C  WAR.  — ELECTED  TO  THE  ILLINOIS  STATE  LEG- 
ISLATURE, 1831.  — AGAIN,  183C.  — ADMITTED  TO  THE  BAR, 
1837.  — ELECTED  TO  CONGRESS,  1846.— MEMBER  OF  THE 
COMMITTEE  ON  POST-OFFICES  AND  POST-ROADS  AND 
WAR-DEPARTMENT  EXPENSES.— MADE  HIS  FIRST  SPEECH 
IN  CONGRESS,  JAN.  12,  1848,  IN  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  MEX- 
ICAN WAR.  — SPEECH  IN  COOPER'S  INSTITUTE,  NEW  YORK 
CITY,  I860.  — PRESIDENT,  18GO-18C5. 

["  HE  is  the  author  of  a  multitude  of  good  say- 
ings, so  disguised  as  pleasantries  that  it  is  certain 
they  had  no  reputation  at  first  but  as  jests ;  and 
only  later  by  the  very  acceptance  and  adoption 
they  find  in  the  mouths  of  millions,  turn  out  to  be 
the  wisdom  of  the  hour.  I  am  sure  if  this  man 
had  ruled  in  a  period  of  less  facility  of  printing, 
he  would  have  become  mythological  in  a  very  few 
years,  like  .ZEsop  or  Pilpay,  or  one  of  the  Seven 
Wise  Masters,  by  his  fables  and  proverbs. 

"  But  the  weight  and  penetration  of  many  pas- 
sages in  his  letters,  messages,  and  speeches,  hidden 
now  by  the  very  closeness  of  their  application  to 
the  moment,  are  destined  hereafter  to  a  wide  fame. 
What  pregnant  definitions  1  what  unerring  coin- 


218  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

men-sense !  what  foresight !  and,  on  great  occa- 
sions, what  lofty,  and,  more  than  national,  what 
humane  tone." — Ralph  Waldo  Emerson. 

How  his  quaint  wit   made  home-truth 

seeni  more  true.  —  London  Punch. ~\ 

[From  a  Lecture  before  the  Springfield  Lyceum,  on  the 
Perpetuation  of  our  Free  Institutions,  January,  1837.] 

.....  At  what  point,  then,  is  the  approach  of 
danger  to  be  expected  ?  I  answer,  if  it  ever  reach 
us,  it  must  spring  up  amongst  us.  It  cannot  come 
from  abroad.  If  destruction  be  our  lot,  we  must 
ourselves  be  its  author  and  finisher.  As  a  nation 
of  freemen,  we  must  live  through  all  time,  or  die 
by  suicide. 

[Lett  .f  to  Mr.  Herndon.]* 

WASHINGTON,  February  1,  1848. 

That  vote   affirms  that  the   [Mexican] 

war  was  unnecessarily  and  unconstitutionally  com- 
menced by  the  President ;  and  I  will  stake  my 
life,  that,  if  you  had  been  in  nay  place,  you  would 
have  voted  just  as  I  did.  Would  you  have  voted 
what  you  felt  and  knew  to  be  a  lie  ?  I  know  you 
would  not.  Would  you  have  gone  out  of  the 
House,  —  skulked  the  vote?  I  expect  not.  If 
you  had  skulked  one  vote,  you  would  have  to 

*  Mr.  Lincoln  voted  for  Mr.  Ashmun's  amendment 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  219 

skulk  many  more  before  the  end  of  the  session. 
Richardson's  resolutions,  introduced  before  I  made 
any  move,  or  gave  any  vote  upon  the  subject, 
make  the  direct  question  of  the  justice  of  the  war ; 
so  that  no  man  can  be  silent  if  he  would.  You 
are  compelled  to  speak ;  and  your  only  alternative 
is  to  tell  the  truth  or  tell  a  lie. 

[To  the  Same.] 

WASHINGTON,  July  10,  1848. 

The  way  for  a  young  man  to  rise  is  to 

improve  himself  every  way  he  can,  never  sus- 
pecting that  anybody  wishes  to  hinder  him.  Allow 
me  to  assure  you  that  suspicion  and  jealousy  never 
did  help  any  man  in  any  situation.  There  may 
sometimes  be  ungenerous  attempts  to  keep  a  young 
man  down  ;  and  they  will  succeed,  too,  if  he  allows 
his  mind  to  be  diverted  from  its  true  channel,  to 
brood  over  the  attempted  injury.  Cast  about,  and 
see  if  this  feeling  has  not  injured  every  person  you 
have  ever  known  to  fall  into  it. 

[From  a  Speech  in  Congress,  July  27,  1848.] 

The  other  day  one  of  the  gentlemen  from 

Georgia,  an  eloquent  man,  and  a  man  of  learning, 
so  far  as  I  could  judge,  not  being  learned  myself, 
came  down  upon  us  astonishingly.  He  spoke  in 
what  the  Baltimore  American  calls  the  w  scathing 
and  withering  style."  At  the  end  of  his  second 


220  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

severe  flash  I  was  struck  blind,  and  found  myself 
feeling  with  my  fingers  for  an  assurance  of  my 
continued  physical  existence.  A  little  of  the  bone 
was  left,  and  I  gradually  revived. 

I  say  that  no  man  is  good  enough  to  govern 
another  man  without  that  other's  consent.  —  Oct. 
1854. 

[From  a  Speech  in  1856.] 

Twenty-two  years  ago,  Judge  Douglas  and  I 
became  first  acquainted;  we  were  both  young 
men  —  he  a  trifle  younger  than  I.  Even  then  we 
were  both  ambitious,  I  perhaps  quite  as  much  as 
he.  "With  me  the  race  of  ambition  has  been  a 
failure  —  a  flat  failure.  With  him  it  has  been  one 
of  splendid  success.  His  name  fills  the  nation, 
and  it  is  not  unknown  in  foreign  lands.  I  afiect 
no  contempt  for  the  high  eminence  he  has  reached, 
so  reached  that  the  oppressed  of  my  species  might 
have  shared  with  me  in  the  elevation.  I  would 
rather  stand  on  that  eminence  than  wear  the  richest 
crown  that  ever  pressed  a  monarch's  brow. 

[From  a  Speech  delivered  in  1857.    Describing  the  helpless 
state  of  the  American  slave,  he  said] : 

They  have  him  in  his  prison-house.  They  have 
searched  his  person  and  left  no  prying  instrument 
with  him.  One  after  another  they  have  closed  tho 
heavy  iron  doors  ujo:i  him,  and  now  they  have 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  221 

him,  as  it  were,  bolted  in  with  a  lock  of  a  hundred 
key &,  which  can  never  be  unlocked  without  the 
concurrence  of  every  key ;  the  keys  in  the  hands 
of  a  hundred  different  men,  and  they  scattered  to 
a  hundred  different  and  distant  places ;  and  they 
stand  musing  as  to  what  invention,  in  all  the 
dominions  of  mind  and  matter,  can  be  produced 
to  make  the  impossibility  of  his  escape  more  com- 
plete than  it  is. 

[From  a  Speech,*  delivered  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  June  17, 
18^8,  before  the  Republican  State  Convention.] 

If  we  could  first  know  where  we  are,  and  whith- 
er we  are  tending,  we  could  better  judge  what  to 
do,  and  how  to  do  it.  We  are  now  far  into  the 
iifth  year  since  a  policy  was  initiated  with  the 
avowed  object  and  confident  promise  of  putting  an 
end  to  slavery  agitation.  Under  the  operation  of 
that  policy,  that  agitation  has  not  only  not  ceased, 

*  Mr.  Lincoln  read  this  speech,  before  its  public  delivery, 
to  Mr.  Ilerndon.  When  he  had  finished  the  first  paragraph, 
he  asked  his  auditor,  "How  do  you  like  that?  What  do  you 
think  of  it?"  "I  think,"  returned  Mr.  Ilerndon,  "it  is 
true;  but  is  it  entirely  politic  to  read  or  speak  it  as  it  is 
written?"  "What  makes  the  difference?"  Mr.  Lincoln 
said.  "That  expression  is  a  truth  of  all  human  experience, 
'A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand;1  and  'he  that 
runs  may  read.'  The  proposition  is  indisputably  true,  and 

has  been  true  for  more  than  six  thousand  years;  and 

I  will  deliver  it  as  written.  I  want  to  use  some  universally 
known  figure,  expressed  in  simple  language  as  universally 


222  ^ELECTIONS  FROM  SfEECBES  AND  LETTER*. 

but  has  constantly  augmented.  In  my  opinion,  ft 
Avill  not  cease  until  a  crisis  sLall  have  been  reached 
and  passed.  "  A  house  divided  against  itself  can- 
not stand."  I  believe  this  government  cannot  en- 
dure permanently  half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do 
not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved.  I  do  not 
expect  the  house  to  fall ;  but  I  do  expect  it  will 
cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become  all  one  thing, 
or  all  the  other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery 
will  arrest  the  further  spread  of  it,  and  place  it 
where  the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that 
it  is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction,  or  its  ad- 
vocates will  push  it  forward  till  it  shall  becomfl 
alike  lawful  in  all  the  states*  old  as  well  as  new, 
north  as  well  GS  south. 

[In  the  same  speech,  Mr.  Lincoln  said  that  the 
doctrine   of    "Squatter    Sovereignty,"   otherwise 

known,  that  may  strike  home  to  the  minds  of  men,  in  order 
to  rouse  them  to  the  peril  of  the  times.  I  would  rather  be 
defeated  with  this  exprecsion  in  the  speech,  and  it  held  up 
and  discussed  before  the  people,  than  to  be  victorious  with- 
out if." 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  elected  senator.  In  the  summer  of 
1859,  at  a  party  of  friends,  the  subject  of  this  speech  was 
discussed.  "We  all  insisted,"  says  Mr.  Swctt,  who  was  one 
of  the  company,  "that  it  was  a  great  mistake,"  losing  him 
his  election.  "  Well,  gentlemen,"  replied  Mr.  Lincoln, 
"you  may  think  that  speech  was  a  mistake;  but  I  never 
have  believed  it  was,  and  you  will  see  the  day  when  you 
will  consider  it  was  the  nicest  thing  I  ever  said." — See  LA« 
MON's  Life  of  Lincoln. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  2l>3 

culled  "  sacred  right  of  self-government,"  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  "  Nebraska  Bill,"  by  which  the  right 
of  a  slaveholder  to  hold  slaves  in  any  territory  or 
state,  was  affirmed,  amounted  to  this:] — "That 
if  any  one  man  chose  to  enslave  another,  no  third 
man  shall  be  allowed  to  object." 

[From  a  Speech  in  reply  to  Mr.  Douglas,  July  10, 1858.] 

We  are  now  a  mighty  nation ;  we  are  thirty,  or 
about  thirty  millions  of  people,  and  we  own  and 
inhabit  about  one-fifteenth  part  of  the  dry  land  of 
the  whole  earth.  We  run  our  memory  back  over 
the  pages  of  history  for  about  eighty-two  years, 
and  we  discover  that  we  were  then  a  very  small 
people  in  point  of  numbers,  vastly  inferior  to  what 
we  are  now,  with  a  vastly  less  extent  of  country, 
with  vastly  less  of  everything  we  deem  desirable 
among  men, — we  look  upon  the  change  as  extreme- 
ly advantageous  to  us,  and  to  our  posterity,  and 
we  fix  upon  something  that  happened  away  back, 
as  in  some  way  or  other  being  connected  with  this 
rise  of  prosperity.  We  find  a  race  of  men  living  in 
that  day  whom  we  claim  as  our  fathers  and  grand- 
fathers ;  they  were  iron  men ;  they  fought  for  the 
principle  that  they  were  contending  for ;  and  wo 
understood  that  by  what  they  then  did  it  has  fol- 
lowed that  the  degree  of  prosperity  which  we  now 
enjoy  has  come  to  us.  We  hold  this  annual  cel- 
ebration to  remind  ourselves  of  all  the  good  done 


'22±8ELECTIOXS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTE&S. 

in  this  process  of  time,  of  how  it  was  done,  and 
who  did  it,  and  how  we  are  historically  connected 
with  it ;  and  we  go  from  these  meetings  in  better 
humor  with  ourselves  ;  we  feel  more  attached  the 
one  to  the  other,  and  more  firmly  bound  to  the 
country  we  inhabit.  In  every  way  we  are  better 
men  in  the  age,  and  race,  and  country  in  which 
we  live,  for  these  celebrations. 

But  after  we  have  done  all  this  we  have  not  yet 
reached  the  whole.  .  .  .  We  have  besides  these 
descended  by  blood  from  our  ancestors,  men 
among  us,  perhaps  half  our  people,  who  are  not 
descendants  at  all  of  these  men ;  they  are  men 
who  have  come  from  Europe,  —  German,  Irish, 
French,  and  Scandinavian, — men  that  have  come 
from  Europe  themselves,  or  whose  ancestors  have 
come  hither  and  settled  here,  finding  themselves 
our  equals  in  all  things.  If  they  look  back 
through  their  history  to  trace  their  connection 
with  those  days  by  blood,  they  find  they  have 
none ;  they  cannot  carry  themselves  back  into 
that  glorious  epoch,  and  make,  themselves  feel 
that  they  are  part  of  us;  but  when  they  look 
through  that  old  Declaration  of  Independence, 
they  find  that  those  old  men  say  that  "  We 
hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all  men 
are  created  equal,"  etc.,  and  then  they  feel  that 
that  moral  sentiment  taught  in  that  day  evidences 
their  relation  to  those  men,  that  it  is  the  father  of 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  225 

all  moral  principle  in  them,  and  that  they  have  a 
right  to  claim  it  as  though  they  were  blood  of  the 
blood  and  flesh  of  the  flesh  of  the  men  who  wrote 
that  declaration;  and  so  they  are.  That  is  the 
electric  cord  in  that  declaration  that  links  the 
hearts  of  patriotic  and  liberty-loving  men  to- 
gether, that  will  link  those  patriotic  hearts  as  long 
as  the  love  of  freedom  exists  in  the  minds  of  men 

throughout  the  world 

Those  arguments  that  are  made,  that  the  inferior 
race  are  to  be  treated  with  as  much  allowance  as 
they  are  capable  of  enjoying ;  that  as  much  is  to 
be  done  for  them  as  their  condition  will  allow. 
What  are  these  arguments?  They  are  the  argu- 
ments that  kings  have  made  for  enslaving  the  peo- 
ple in  all  ages  of  the  world.  You  will  find  that 
all  the  arguments  in  favor  of  king-craft  were  of 
this  class ;  they  always  bestrode  the  necks  of  the 
people,  not  that  they  wanted  to  do  it,  but  because 
the  people  were  better  off  for  being  ridden.  That 
is  their  argument,  and  this  argument  of  the  judge 
is  the  same  old  serpent  that  says,  You  work,  and  I 
eat;  you  toil,  and  I  will  enjoy  the  fruits  of  it. 
Turn  it  whatever  way  you  will,  whether  it  come 
from  the  mouth  of  a  king,  an  excuse  for  enslaving 
the  people  of  his  country,  or  from  the  mouth  of 
men  of  one  race  as  a  reason  for  enslaving  the  men 
of  another  race,  it  is  all  the  same  old  serpent,  and 
I  hold  if  that  course  of  argumentation  that  is  made 

15 


226  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTEH8. 

for  the  purpose  of  convincing  the  public  mind  that 
we  should  not  care  about  this,  should  be  granted, 
it  does  not  stop  with  the  negro.  I  should  like  to 
know,  taking  this  old  Declaration  of  Independence, 
which  declares  that  all  men  are  equal  upon  princi- 
ple, and  making  exceptions  to  it,  where  will  it 
stop?  If  one  man  says  it  does  not  mean  the 
negro,  why  not  another  say  it  does  not  mean  some 
other  man?  If  that  declaration  is  not  the  truth, 
let  us  get  the  statute  book  in  which  we  find  it  and 
tear  it  out !  Who  is  so  bold  as  to  do  it  1  If  it  is 
not  true,  let  us  tear  it  out !  [Cries  of  "  No,  no  1 "] 
Let  us  stick  to  it,  then ;  let  us  stand  firmly  by  it, 
then. 

[From  a  letter  to  Mr.  Speed,  August  24,  1858.] 

Our  progress  in  degeneracy  appears  to  me  to  be 
pretty  rapid.  As  a  nation,  we  began  by  declar- 
ing that  "  all  men  are  created  equal."  We  now 
practically  read  it,  "  All  men  are  created  equal, 
except  negroes."  When  the  Know-nothings  get 
control  it  will  read,  "  All  men  are  created  equal, 
except  negroes,  and  foreigners,  and  Catholics." 
When  it  comes  to  this  I  should  prefer  emigrating 
to  some  country  where  they  make  no  pretence  of 
loving  liberty ;  to  Russia,  for  instance,  where  des- 
potism can  be  taken  pure,  and  without  the  base 
alloy  of  hypocrisy. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  227 

[From  a  speech  delivered  October,  1858.] 

The  judge  has  alluded  to  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, and  insisted  that  negroes  are  not  in- 
cluded in  that  declaration ;  and  that  it  is  a  slander 
upon  the  framers  of  that  instrument  to  suppose 
that  negroes  were  meant  therein  ;  and  he  asks  you, 
Is  it  possible  to  believe  that  Mr.  Jefferson,  who 
penned  the  immortal  paper,  could  have  supposed 
himself  applying  the  language  of  that  instrument 
to  the  negro  race,  and  yet  held  a  portion  of  that 
race  in  slavery  ?  Would  he  not  at  once  have  freed 
them?  I  only  have  to  remark,  .  .  .  that  I  believe 
the  entire  records  of  the  world,  from  the  date  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  up  to  within  three 
years  ago,  may  be  searched  in  vain  for  one  single 
affirmation,  from  one  single  man,  that  the  negro 
was  not  included  in  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence ;  .  .  .  that  Washington  ever  said  so,  that 
any  President  ever  said  so,  that  any  member  of 
Congress  ever  said  so,  or  that  any  living  man  upon 
the  whole  earth  ever  said  so,  until  the  necessities 
of  the  present  policy  of  the  Democratic  party,  in 
regard  to  slavery,  had  to  invent  that  affirmation. 
And  I  will  remind  Judge  Douglas  and  this  audi- 
ence, that  while  Mr.  Jefferson  was  the  owner  of 
slaves,  in  speaking  upon  this  very  subject,  he  used 
the  strong  language,  that  "he  trembled  for  his 
country  when  he  remembered  that  God  was  just." 


228    SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

.  .  .  He  supposed  there  was  a  question  of  God's 
eternal  justice  wrapped  up  in  the  enslaving  of  any 
race  of  men,  or  any  man,  and  that  those  who  did 
so  braved  the  arm  of  Jehovah  ;  that  when  a  nation 
thus  dared  the  Almighty,  every  friend  of  that  na- 
tion had  cause  to  dread  His  wrath. 

[From  a  Speech  delivered  in  1858.] 

Judge  Douglas  declares  that,  if  any  community 
want  slavery,  they  have  a  right  to  have  it.  He  can 
say  that  logically,  if  he  says  that  there  is  no  wrong 
in  slavery ;  but  if  you  admit  that  there  is  a  wrong  in 
it,  he  cannot  logically  say  that  anybody  has  a  right 
to  do  wrong.  He  insists  that,  upon  the  score  of 
equality,  the  owners  of  slaves  and  owners  of  prop- 
erty, —  of  horse,  and  every  other  sort  of  property, 

—  should  be  alike,  and  hold  them  alike,  in  a  new 
territory.     That  is  perfectly  logical  if  the  species 
of  property  are  alike,  and  are  equally  founded  in 
right.    But  if  you  admit  that  one  of  them  is  wrong, 
you  cannot  institute  any  equality  between  right 
and  wrong.     And  from  this  difference  of  sentiment, 

—  the  belief  on  the  part  of  one  that  the  institu- 
tion is  wrong,  and  a  policy  springing  from  that 
belief  which  looks  to  the  arrest  of  the  enlargement 
of  that  wrong ;  and  this  other  sentiment,  that  it  is 
no  wrong,  and  a  policy  sprung  from  that  sentiment 
which  will   tolerate   no   idea   of  preventing  that 
wrong  from  growing  larger,  and  looks  to  there 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  229 

never  being  an  end  of  it  through  all  the  existence 
of  things,  —  arises  the  real  difference  between 
Judge  Douglas  and  his  friends  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  Republicans  on  the  other.  Now  I  confess 
myself  as  belonging  to  that  class  in  the  country 
who  contemplate  slavery  as  a  moral,  social,  and 
political  evil,  having  due  regard  for  its  actual  ex- 
istence amongst  us,  and  the  difficulties  of  getting 
rid  of  it  in  any  satisfactory  way,  and  to  all  the 
constitutional  obligations  which  have  been  thrown 
about  it;  but,  nevertheless,  desire  a  policy  that 
looks  to  the  prevention  of  it  as  a  wrong,  and  looks 
hopefully  to  the  time  when,  as  a  wrong,  it  may 
come  to  an  end. 

[From  a  Speech  at  Alton,  Illinois.     To  the  question,  "Is 
slavery  wrong?"  Mr.  Lincoln  said]  : 

That  is  the  real  issue.  That  is  the  issue  that 
will  continue  in  this  country  when  these  poor 
tongues  of  Judge  Douglas  and  myself  shall  be 

O  O  ^  * 

silent.  It  is  the  eternal  struggle  between  these 
two  principles  —  right  and  wrong  —  throughout 
the  world.  They  are  two  principles  that  have 
stood  face  to  face  from  the  beginning  of  time,  and 
will  ever  continue  to  struggle.  The  one  is  the 
common  right  of  humanity,  and  the  other  the  di- 
vine right  of  kings. 


230  SELECTION*)  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 


a  Speech  at  Springfield,  Illinois.] 
Judge  Douglas  is  going  back  to  the  era  of  tho 

o  o  o        o 

Revolution,  and,  to  the  extent  of  his  ability,  muz- 
zling the  cannon  which  thunders  its  *  annual  joy- 
ous return.  When  he  invites  any  people  willing 
to  have  slavery  to  establish  it,  he  is  blowing  out 
the  moral  lights  around  us.  When  he  says  he 
"  cares  not  whether  slavery  is  voted  down  or  voted 
up,"  —  that  it  is  a  sacred  right  of  self-government, 
—  he  is,  in  my  judgment,  penetrating  the  human 
soul,  and  eradicating  the  light  of  reason  and  the 
love  of  liberty  in  this  American  people. 

JTrom  a  Speech  in  New  York,  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  Feb- 
ruary 27,  I860.] 

.....  Wrong  as  we  think  slavery  is,  we  can 
yet  afford  to  let  it  alone  where  it  is,  because  that 
much  is  due  to  the  necessity  arising  from  its  actual 
presence  in  the  nation  ;  but  can  we,  while  our 
votes  will  prevent  it,  allow  it  to  spread  into  the 
national  Territories,  and  to  overrun  here  in  these 
Free  States? 

If  our  sense  of  duty  forbids  this,  then  let  us 
stand  by  our  duty  fearlessly  and  effectively.  Let 
us  be  diverted  by  none  of  these  sophistical  con- 
trivances wherewith  we  are  so  industriously  plied 

*  The  celebration  of  Independence,  on  the  4th  of  July. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  231 

and  belabored  —  contrivances  such  as  groping  for 
some  middle  ground  between  the  right  and  the 
wrong,  vain  as  the  search  for  a  man  who  should  be 
neither  a  living  man  nor  a  dead  man  —  such  a 
policy  of  "  don't  care  "  on  a  question  about  which 
all  true  men  do  care,  —  such  as  Union  appeals  be- 
seeching true  Union  men  to  yield  to  Disunionists, 
reversing  the  divine  rule,  and  calling,  not  the  sin- 
ners, but  the  righteous,  to  repentance — such  as 
invocations  to  Washington,  imploring  men  to  un- 
say what  Washington  said,  and  undo  what  Wash- 
ington did. 

Neither  let  us  be  slandered  from  our  duty  by 
false  accusations  against  us,  nor  frightened  from  it 
by  menaces  of  destruction  to  the  government,  nor 
of  dungeons  to  ourselves.  Let  us  have  faith  that 
right  makes  might ;  and  in  that  faith,  let  us,  to 
the  end,  dare  to  do  our  duty  as  we  understand  it. 

[Farewell  Speech  to  his  neighbors,  from  the  platform  of  the 
car,  as  he  was  leaving  Springfield  for  Washington,  Feb- 
ruary 11,  1861.] 

Friends,  —  No  one  who  has  never  been  placed 
in  a  like  position  can  understand  my  feelings  at 
this  hour,  nor  the  oppressive  sadness  I  feel  at  tms 
parting.  For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  I 
have  lived  among  you,  and  during  that  time  I  have 
received  nothing  but  kindness  at  your  hands.  Here 
I  have  lived  from  my  youth,  until  now  I  urn  an  old 


232  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS     . 

man.  Here  the  most  sacred  ties  of  earth  were 
assumed.  Here  all  my  children  were  born ;  and 
here  one  of  them  lies  buried.  To  you,  dear 
friends,  I  owe  all  that  I  have,  all  that  I  am.  All 
the  strange,  checkered  past  seems  to  crowd  now 
upon  my  mind.  To-day  I  leave  you.  I  go  to  as- 
sume a  task  more  difficult  than  that  which  devolved 
upon  Washington.  Unless  the  great  God,  who 
assisted  him,  shall  be  with  and  aid  me,  I  must  fail ; 
but  if  the  same  omniscient  mind  and  almighty  arm 
that  directed  and  protected  him,  shall  guide  and 
support  me,  I  shall  not  fail, — I  shall  succeed. 
Let  us  all  pray  that  the  God  of  our  fathers  may 
not  forsake  us  now.  To  Him  I  commend  you 
all.  Permit  me  to  ask  that,  with  equal  sin- 
cerity and  faith,  you  will  invoke  His  wisdom 
and  guidance  for  me.  With  these  few  words  I 
must  leave  you ;  for  how  long  I  know  not.  Friends, 
one  and  all,  I  must  now  bid  you  an  affectionate 
farewell. 

[Tn  an  Address  to  the  Legislature  of  New  Jersey,  on  his 
way  to  Washington,  February,  1861,  Mr.  Lincoln  said]  : 

I  shall  endeavor  to  take  the  ground  I  deem  most 
just  to  the  North,  the  East,  the  West,  the  South, 
and  the  whole  country.  I  take  it,  I  hope,  in  good 
temper,  —  certainly  with  no  malice  toward  any  sec- 
tion. I  shall  do  all  that  may  be  in  my  power  to 
promote  a  peaceful  settlement  of  nil  our  difficulties. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  233 

The  man  docs  not  live  who  is  more  devoted  to 
peace  than  I  am  —  none  who  would  do  more  to 
preserve  it.  But  it  may  be  necessary  to  put  the 
foot  down  firmly.  And  if  I  do  my  duty,  and  do 
right,  you  will  sustain  me,  will  you  not?  Received 
as  I  am  by  the  members  of  a  Legislature,  the  ma- 
jority of  whom  do  not  agree  with  me  in  political 
sentiments,  I  trust  that  I  may  have  their  assistance 
in  piloting  the  ship  of  State  through  this  voyage, 
surrounded  by  perils  as  it  is ;  for  if  it  should  suf- 
fer shipwreck  now,  there  will  be  no  pilot  ever 
needed  for  another  voyage. 

[At  Philadelphia,  in  "  Independence  Hall,"  from  which  was 
issued  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  in  1776,  Mr. 
Lincoln  said] : 

I  am  filled  with  deep  emotion  at  finding  myself 
standing  here,  in  this  place,  where  were  collected 
the  wisdom,  the  patriotism,  the  devotion  to  prin- 
ciple, from  which  sprang  the  institutions  under 
which  we  live.  You  have  kindly  suggested  to  mo 
that  in  my  hands  is  the  task  of  restoring  peace  to 
the  present  distracted  condition  of  the  country.  I 
can  say  in  return,  sir,  that  all  the  political  senti- 
ments I  entertain  have  been  drawn,  so  far  as  I 
have  been  able  to  draw  them,  from  the  sentiments 
which  originated  and  were  given  to  the  woild  from 
this  hull.  I  have  never  had  a  feeling  politically 
that  did  not  spring  from  the  sentiments  embodied 


234  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS, 

in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  I  have  often 
pondered  over  the  dangers  which  were  incurred 
by  the  men  who  assembled  here,  and  framed 
and  adopted  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
I  have  pondered  over  the  toils  that  were  en- 
dured by  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  army 
who  achieved  that  independence.  I  have  often 
inquired  of  myself  what  great  principle  or  idea  it 
was  that  kept  this  confederacy  so  long  together. 
It  was  not  the  mere  matter  of  the  separation  of  the 
colonies  from  the  mother-land,  but  that  sentiment 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  which  gave 
liberty,  not  alone  to  the  people  of  this  country, 
but,  I  hope,  to  the  world  for  all  future  time.  It 
was  that  which  gave  promise  that  in  due  time  the 
weight  would  be  lifted  from  the  shoulders  of  all 
men.  This  is  a  sentiment  embodied  in  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence.  Now,  my  friends,  can 
this  country  be  saved  upon  this  basis?  If  it  can, 
I  will  consider  myself  one  of  the  happiest  men 
in  the  world  if  I  can  help  to  save  it.  If  it  cannot 
be  saved  upon  that  principle,  it  will  be  truly  awful. 
But  if  this  country  cannot  be  saved  without  giving 
up  that  principle,  I  was  about  to  say,  I  would 
rather  be  assassinated  on  this  spot  than  surrender 
it.  Now,  in  my  view  of  the  present  aspect  of  af- 
fairs, there  need  be  no  bloodshed  or  war.  There 
is  no  necessity  for  it.  I  am  not  in  favor  of  such  a 
course,  and  I  mav  say,  in  advance,  that  there  will 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  235 

be  no  bloodshed  unless  it  be  forced  upon  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  then  it  will  be  compelled  to  act  in 
self-defence. 

My  friends,  this  is  wholly  an  unexpected  speech. 
...  I  may,  therefore,  have  said  something  in- 
discreet. 1  have  said  nothing  but  what  I  am  will- 
ing to  live  by,  and,  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  Al- 
mighty God,  to  die  by. 

[From  his  Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1861.] 

Why  should    there    not    be    a   patient 

confidence  in  the  ultimate  justice  of  the  people? 
Is  there  any  better  or  equal  hope  in  the  world  ? 
In  our  present  differences,  is  either  party  without 
faith  of  being  in  the  right?  If  the  Almighty  Kuler 
of  nations,  wTith  his  eternal  truth  and  justice,  bo 
on  your  side  of  the  North,  or  on  yours  of  the 
South,  that  truth  and  that  justice  will  surely  pre- 
vail, by  the  judgment  of  the  great  tribunal  of  the 

American  people 

You  can  have  no  conflict  without  being  your- 
selves the  aggressors.  You  have  no  oath  regis- 
tered in  heaven  to  destroy  the  government,  while 
I  shall  have  the  most  solemn  one  to  "  preserve, 
protect,  and  defend  "  it. 

I  am  loath  to  close.     We  are  not  enemies,  but 
friends.     We  must  not  be  enemies.     Though  pas- 
sion may  have  strained,    it  must  not  break    our 
bonds  of  affection.     The  mystic  chord  of  memory, 
W 


i&tt  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

stretching  from  every  battle-field  and  patriot 
grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearthstone  all 
over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of 
the  Union,  when  again  touched,  as  surely  it  will 
be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature. 

[From  a  Message  to  Congress,  July  4,  1861.] 

It  might  seem,  at  first  thought,  to  be  of 

little  difference  whether  the  present  movement  at 
the  South  be  called  "  secession,"  or  "  rebellion." 
The  movers,  however,  will  understand  the  differ- 
ence. At  the  beginning  they  knew  they  could 
never  raise  their  treason  to  any  respectable  mag- 
nitude by  any  name  which  implies  violation  of  law. 
They  knew  their  people  possessed  as  much  of 
moral  sense,  as  much  of  devotion  to  law  and  order, 
and  as  much  pride  in,  and  reverence  for,  the  his- 
tory and  government  of  their  common  country,  as 
any  other  civilized  and  patriotic  people.  They 
knew  they  could  make  no  advancement  directly  in 
the  teeth  of  these  strong  and  noble  sentiments. 
Accordingly  they  commenced  by  an  insidious  de- 
bauching of  the  public  mind.  They  invented  an 
ingenious  sophism,  which,  if  conceded,  was  fol- 
lowed by  perfectly  logical  steps,  through  all  the 
incidents,  to  the  complete  destruction  of  the 
Unioa.  The  sophism  itself  is,  that  any  State  of 
the  Union  may,  consistently  with  the  National 
Constitution,  and  therefore  lawfully  and  peace- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  237 

fully,  withdraw  from  the  Union  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  Union,  or  of  any  other  State.  The 
little  disguise  that  tho  supposed  right  is  to  be  ex- 
ercised only  for  just  cause,  themselves  to  be  the 
sole  judge  of  its  justice,  is  too  thin  to  want  any 
notice. 

With  rebellion  thus  sugar-coated,  they  havo 
been  drugging  the  public  mind  of  their  section  for 
more  than  thirty  years,  and  until  at  length  they 
have  brought  many  good  men  to  a  willingness  to 
take  up  arms  against  the  government  the  day  after 
some  assemblage  of  men  have  enacted  that  farcical 
pretense  of  taking  their  State  out  of  the  Union, 
\vho  could  have  been  brought  to  no  such  thing  tho 
day  before. 

[Speaking  of  what  was  called  the  right  of  peaceful  secession, 
that  is,  secession  in  accordance  with  the  National  Con- 
stitution, he  said]  : 

This  sophism  derives  much,  perhaps  the  whole, 
of  its  currency  from  the  assumption  that  there  is 
some  omnipotent  and  sacred  supremacy  pertaining 
to  a  State  —  to  each  State  of  our  Federal  Union. 
Our  States  have  neither  more  nor  less  power  than 
that  reserved  to  them  in  the  Union  by  the  Consti- 
tution, no  one  of  them  ever  having  been  a  Slate 
out  of  the  Union.  The  original  ones  passed  into 
the  Union  even  before  they  cast  off  their  British 
colonial  dependence,  and  tho  new  ones  each  came 


238  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS, 

into  the  Union  directly  from  a  condition  of  depend- 
ence, excepting  Texas.  And  even  Texas,  in  its 
temporary  independence,  was  never  designated  a 
State.  The  new  ones  only  took  the  designation 
of  States  on  coming  into  the  Union,  while  that 
name  was  first  adopted  for  the  old  ones  in  and  by 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Therein  the 
"  United  Colonies  "  were  declared  to  be  "  free  and 
independent  States ; "  but,  even  then,  the  object 
plainly  was  not  to  declare  their  independence  of 
one  another,  or  of  the  Union,  but  directly  the  con- 
trary, as  their  mutual  pledge,  and  their  mutual 
action,  before,  at  the  time,  and  afterward,  abun- 
dantly show.  The  express  plighting  of  faith  by 
each  and  all  of  the  original  thirteen,  in  the  arti- 
cles of  Confederation,  two  years  later,  that  tho 
Union  shall  be  perpetual,  is  most  conclusive. 
Having  never  been  States,  either  in  substance  or 
in  name,  outside  of  the  Union,  whence  this  magi- 
cal omnipotence  of  "  State  rights,"  asserting  a  claim 
of  power  to  lawfully  destroy  the  Union  itself? 
Much  is  said  about  the  "  sovereignty "  of  the 
States ;  but  the  word  even  is  not  in  the  National 
Constitution,  nor,  as  is  believed,  in  any  of  the 
State  Constitutions.  What  is  a  "  sovereignty  "  in 
the  political  sense  of  the  term?  Would  it  be  far 
wrong  to  define  it  a  "  political  community,  with- 
out a  political  superior?  "  Tested  by  this,  no  one 
of  our  States,  except  Texas,  ever  was  a  sover- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  li.'JU 

eignt y  ;  and  even  Texas  gave  up  the  character  on 
coming  into  the  Union  ;  by  which  act  she  acknowl- 
edged the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  laws  and  treaties  of  the  United  States  made  in 
pursuance  of  the  Constitution,  to  be,  for  her,  the 
supreme  laws  of  the  land.  The  States  have  their 
status  IN  the  Union,  and  they  have  no  other  legal 
status.  If  they  break  from  this,  they  can  only  do 
so  against  law,  and  by  revolution.  The  Union, 
and  not  themselves  separately,  procured  their 
independence  and  their  liberty.  By  conquest,  or 
purchase,  the  Union  gave  each  of  them  whatever 
of  independence  and  liberty  it  has.  The  Union  is 
older  than  any  of  the  States ;  and,  in  fact,  it 
created  them  as  States.  Originally,  some  de- 
pendent colonies  made  the  Union,  and,  in  turn, 
the  Union  threw  off  their  old  dependence  for  them, 
and  made  them  States,  such  as  they  are.  Not 
one  of  them  ever  had  a  State  constitution  indepen- 
dent of  the  Union.  Of  course,  it  is  not  forgotten 
that  all  the  new  States  framed  their  constitutions 
before  they  entered  the  Union ;  nevertheless  de- 
pendent upon,  and  preparatory  to,  coming  into  the 
Union. 

This  relative  matter  of  National  power  and  State 
rights,  as  a  principle,  is  no  other  than  the  princi- 
ple of  generality,  and  locality.  Whatever  con- 
cerns the  whole  should  be  confided  to  the  whole  — 


240  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

to  the  general  government;  while  whatever  con- 
cerns only  the  State  should  be  left  exclusively  to 
the  State.  This  is  all  there  is  of  original  principle 
about  it. 

Our  adversaries  have  adopted  some  declarations 
of  independence,  in  which,  unlike  the  good  old 
one  penned  by  Jefferson,  they  omit  the  words, 
w  All  men  are  created  equal."  Why?  They  have 
adopted  a  temporary  national  constitution,  in  the 
preamble  of  which,  unlike  our  good  old  one  signed 
by  Washington,  they  omit  "  We,  the  people,"  and 
substitute  "  We,  the  deputies  of  the  sovereign  and 
independent  States."  Why?  Why  this  deliber- 
ate pressing  out  of  view  the  rights  of  men  and  the 
authority  of  the  people?  This  is  essentially  a 
people's  contest.  On  the  side  of  the  Union,  it  is 
a  struggle  for  maintaining  in  the  world  that  form 
and  substance  of  government  whose  leading  object 
is  to  elevate  the  condition  of  men ;  to  lift  artificial 
weights  from  all  shoulders ;  to  clear  the  paths  of 
laudable  pursuit  to  all ;  to  afford  all  an  unfettered 
start,  and  a  fair  chance  in  the  race  of  life.  Yield- 
ing to  partial  and  temporary  departures,  from  ne- 
cessity, this  is  the  leading  object  of  the  govern- 
ment, for  whose  existence  we  contend.  I  am  most 
happy  to  believe  that  the  plain  people  understand 
and  appreciate  this. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  241 

[Reply  to  a  Letter  of  Horace  Greeley,  entitled,  "  The  Prayer 
of  Twenty  Millions,"  to  President  Lincoln.] 

August  22,  18G2. 

I  have  just  read  yours  of  the  nineteenth,  ad- 
dressed to  myself  through  the  New  York  Tribune. 
If  there  be  in  it  any  statement,  or  assumptions  of 
fact,  which  I  may  know  to  be  erroneous,  I  do  not 
now  and  here  controvert  them.  If  there  be  in  it 
any  inference,  which  I  may  believe  to  be  falsely 
drawn,  I  do  not  now  and  here  argue  against  them. 
If  there  be  perceptible  in  it  an  impatient  and  dic- 
tatorial tone,  I  waive  it  in  deference  to  an  old 
friend,  whose  heart  I  have  always  supposed  to  bo 
right. 

As  to  the  policy  I  "  seem  to  be  pursuing,"  as 
you  say,  I  have  not  meant  to  leave  any  one  in 
doubt. 

I  would  save  the  Union.  I  would  save  it  the 
shortest  way  under  the  Constitution.  The  sooner 
the  National  authority  can  be  restored,  the  nearer 
the  Union  will  be  "  the  Union  as  it  was."  If  there 
be  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union  unless  they 
could  at  the  same  time  save  Slavery,  I  do  not 
agree  with  them.  If  there  be  those  who  would 
not  save  the  Union  unless  they  could  at  the  same 
time  destroy  slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with  them. 
My  paramount  object  in  this  struggle  is  to  save 
the  Union,  and  is  not  either  to  save  or  destroy 
slavery.  If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing 

16 


242  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

any  slave,  I  would  do  it ;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by 
freeing  all  the  slaves,  I  would  do  it ;  and  if  I  could 
do  it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving  others  alone,  I 
would  also  do  that.  What  I  do  about  slavery  and 
the  colored  race,  I  do  because  I  believe  it  helps  to 
save  this  Union;  and  what  I  forbear,  I  forbear 
because  I  do  not  believe  it  would  help  to  save  the 
Union.  I  shall  do  less  whenever  I  shall  believe 
what  I  am  doing  hurts  the  cause,  and  I  shall  do 
more  whenever  I  shall  believe  doing  more  will 
help  the  cause.  I  shall  try  to  correct  errors  when 
shown  to  be  errors ;  and  I  shall  adopt  new  views 
so  fast  as  they  shall  appear  to  be  true  views. 

I  have  here  stated  my  purpose  according  to  my 
view  of  official  duty,  and  I  intend  no  modification 
of  my  oft-expressed  personal  wish,  that  all  men, 
everywhere,  could  be  free. 

[To  a  delegation  of  clergymen  from  Chicago,  who  urged 
him  to  issue  a  proclamation  of  emancipation,  September 
13,  1862.] 

I  do  not  want  to  issue  a  document  that  the 

whole  world  will  see  must  necessarily  be  inopera- 
tive, like  the  pope's  bull  against  the  comet.  .  .  .  Do 
not  misunderstand  me,  because  I  have  mentioned 
these  objections.  They  indicate  the  difficulties 
which  have  thus  far  prevented  my  action  in  some 
Buch  way  as  you  desire.  I  have  not  decided 
against  a  proclamation  of  liberty  to  the  slaves,  but 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  243 

hold  the  matter  under  advisement.  And  I  can 
assure  you  that  the  subject  is  on  my  mind,  by  day 
and  night,  more  than  any  other.  Whatever  shall 
appear  to  be  God's  will,  I  will  do. 

[To  strictures  upon  his  conduct  of  the  war  by  some  Western 
gentlemen,  he  replied]  : 

Gentlemen,  suppose  all  the  property  you  were 
worth  was  in  gold,  and  you  had  put  it  in  the  hands 
of  Blondin  to  carry  across  Niagara  Falls  on  a  tight- 
rope, would  you  shake  the  rope  while  he  was  pass- 
ing over  it,  or  keep  shouting  to  him,  "Blondin, 
stoop  a  little  more  ;  "  "  Go  a  little  faster?  "  No,  I 
am  sure  you  would  not.  You  would  hold  your 
breath  as  well  us  your  tongue,  and  keep  your  hands 
off  until  he  was  safely  over.  Now  the  government 
is  in  the  same  situation,  and  is  carrying  across  a 
stormy  ocean  an  immense  weight ;  untold  treasures 
are  in  its  hands  ;  it  is  doing  the  best  it  can  ;  don't 
badger  it ;  keep  silence,  and  it  will  get  you  safely 
over. 

[General  Order  respecting  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  in 
the  army  and  navy.] 

November  16,  1862. 

The  President,  Commandcr-in-Chicf  of  the  Army 
and  Navy,  desires  and  enjoins  the  orderly  observ- 
ance of  the  Sabbath  by  the  officers  and  men  in 
the  military  and  naval  sen-ice.  The  importance 
for  mail  and  beast  of  the  prescribed  weekly  rest, 


24:4:8ELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

the  sacred  rights  of  Christian  soldiers  and  sailors, 
a  becoming  deference  to  the  best  sentiment  of  a 
Christian  people,  and  a  due  regard  for  the  Divine 
will,  demand  that  Sunday  labor  in  the  army  and 
navy  be  reduced  to  the  measure  of  strict  neces- 
sity. 

The  discipline  and  character  of  the  national 
forces  should  not  suffer,  nor  the  causo  they  defend 
be  imperilled,  by  the  profanation  of  the  day  or 
the  name  of  the  Most  High.  "  At  this  time  of 
public  distress,"  adopting  the  words  of  Washington 
in  1776,  "men  may  find  enough  to  do  in  the  ser- 
vice of  God  and  their  country  without  abandoning 
themselves  to  vice  and  immorality."  The  first 
general  order  issued  by  the  Father  of  his  Country 
after  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  indicates 
the  spirit  in  which  our  institutions  were  founded 
and  should  ever  be  defended  :  w  The  General  hopes 
and  trusts  that  every  officer  and  man  will  endeavor 
to  live  and  act  as  becomes  a  Christian  soldier  de- 
fending the  dearest  rights  and  liberties  of  his  conn- 
try." 

[To  Mr.  Colfax,  on  the  evening  of  the  day  on  which  Mr. 
Lincoln  signed  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  January 
1,  1863.] 

The  South  had  fair  warning,  that  if  they  did  not 
return  to  their  duty,  I  should  strike  at  this  pillar 
of  their  strength.  The  promise  must  now  be 
keDt.  and  I  shall  never  recall  one  word. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  t>45 

[Reply  to  an  Address  by  the  citizens  of  Manchester,  Eng- 
land, after  the  issuing  of  the  Proclamation  of  Emanci- 
pation.] 

January  19,  18G3. 

To  the  Workinginen  of  Manchester :  .  .  . 
When  I  came,  on  the  fourth  of  March,  18G1, 
through  a  free  and  constitutional  election,  to  pre- 
side in  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  the 
country  was  found  at  the  verge  of  civil  war. 
Whatever  might  have  been  the  cause,  or  whose- 
soever the  fault,  one  duty,  paramount  to  all  others, 
was  before  me,  namely,  to  maintain  and  preserve 
at  once  the  Constitution  and  the  integrity  of  the 
Federal  Republic.  A  conscientious  purpose  to 
perform  this  duty  is  the  key  to  all  the  measures 
of  administration  which  have  been,  and  to  all 
which  will  hereafter  be  pursued.  Under  our  frame 
of  government  and  my  official  oath,  I  could  not 
depart  from  this  purpose  if  I  would.  It  is  not 
always  in  the  power  of  governments  to  enlarge  or 
restrict  the  scope  of  moral  results  which  follow 
the  policies  that  they  may  deem  it  necessary,  for 
the  public  safety,  from  time  to  time  to  adopt 

I  know,  and  deeply  deplore,  the  sufferings  which 
the  workingmen  at  Manchester,  and  in  all  Europe, 
are  called  to  endure  in  this  crisis.  It  has  been  often 
studiously  represented  that  the  attempt  to  over- 
throw this  Government,  which  was  built  upon  the 
foundation  of  human  rights,  and  to  substitute  for 


246  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

it  one  which  should  rest  exclusively  on  the  basis 
of  human  slavery,  was  likely  to  obtain  the  favor 
of  Europe.  Through  the  action  of  our  disloyal 
citizens,  the  workingmen  of  Europe  have  been 
subjected  to  severe  trial,  for  the  purpose  of  forcing 
their  sanction  to  that  attempt.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances I  cannot  but  regard  your  decisive  utter- 
ances upon  the  question  as  an  instance  of  sublime 
Christian  heroism  which  has  not  been  surpassed  in 
any  age  or  in  any  country.  It  is  indeed  an  ener- 
getic and  re-inspiring  assurance  of  the  inherent 
power  of  truth,  and  of  the  ultimate  and  universal 
triumph  of  justice,  humanity,  ^and  freedom.  I  do 
not  doubt  that  the  sentiments  you  have  expressed 
will  be  sustained  by  your  great  nation ;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  assuring 
you  that  they  will  excite  admiration,  esteem,  and 
the  most  reciprocal  feelings  of  friendship  among 
the  American  people. 

I  hail  this  interchange  of  sentiment,  therefore, 
as  an  augury  that,  whatever  else  may  happen, 
whatever  misfortune  may  befall  your  country  or 
my  own,  the  peace  and  friendship  which  now  ex- 
ist between  the  two  nations  will  be,  as  it  shall  be 
my  desire  to  make  them,  perpetual. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  247 

[From  his  Reply  to  Resolutions  of  the  New  York  Demo- 
crats, May  19,  18G3,  protesting  against  his  suspension  of 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  arrest  of  Mr.  Vallanding- 
ham  for  the  crime  of  seeking  to  prevent  the  enlistment 
of  troops.] 

Prior  to  my  installation  here  it  had  been 

inculcated  that  any  State  had  a  lawful  right  to 
secede  from  the  National  Union,  and  that  it  would 
be  expedient  to  exercise  the  right  whenever  the 
devotees  of  the  doctrine  should  fail  to  elect  a 
president  to  their  own  liking.  I  was  elected  con- 
trary to  their  liking ;  and  accordingly,  so  far  as  it 
was  legally  possible,  they  had  taken  seven  States 
out  of  the  Union,  had  seized  many  of  the  United 
States  forts,  and  had  fired  upon  the  United  States 
flag,  all  before  I  was  inaugurated,  and  of  course 
before  I  had  done  any  official  act  whatever.  The 
rebellion  thus  begun  soon  ran  into  the  present 
civil  war;  and,  in  certain  respects,  it  began  on 
very  unequal  terms  between  the  parties.  The  in- 
surgents had  been  preparing  for  it  more  than 
thirty  years,  while  the  government  had  taken  no 
steps  to  resist  them.  The  former  had  carefully 
considered  all  the  means  which  could  be  turned  to 
their  account.  It  undoubtedly  was  a  well-pon- 
dered reliance  with  them  that  in  their  own  unre- 
stricted efforts  to  destroy  Union,  Constitution,  and 
law,  all  together,  the  government  would,  in  great 
degree,  be  restrained  by  the  same  Constitution 


248  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

and  law  from  arresting  their  progress.  Their 
sympathizers  pervaded  all  departments  of  the  gov- 
ernment and  nearly  all  communities  of  the  people. 
From  this  material,  under  cover  of  "  liberty  of 
speech,"  M  liberty  of  the  press,"  and  habeas  corpus, 
they  hoped  to  keep  on  foot  amongst  us  a  most  effi- 
cient corps  of  spies,  informers,  suppliers,  and 
aiders  and  abettors  of  their  cause  in  a  thousand 
ways.  They  knew  that  in  times  such  as  they  were 
inaugurating,  by  the  constitution  itself,  the  habeas 
corpus  might  be  suspended ;  but  they  also  knew 
they  had  friends  who  would  make  a  question  as  to 
who  was  to  suspend  it ;  meanwhile  their  spies  and 
others  might  remain  at  large  to  help  on  their 
cause.  Or  if,  as  has  happened,  the  executive 
should  suspend  the  writ,  without  ruinous  waste  of 
time,  instances  of  arresting  innocent  persons  might 
occur,  as  are  always  likely  to  occur  in  such  cases, 
and  then  a  clamor  could  be  raised  in  regard  to 
this,  which  might  be,  at  least,  of  some  service  to 
the  insurgent  cause.  It  needed  no  very  keen  per- 
ception to  discover  this  part  of  the  enemy's  pro- 
gramme so  soon  as  by  open  hostilities  their  ma- 
chinery was  fairly  put  in  motion.  Yet,  thoroughly 
imbued  with  a  reverence  for  the  guaranteed  rights 
of  individuals,  I  was  slow  to  adopt  the  strong 
measures  which  by  degrees  I  have  been  forced  to 
regard  as  being  within  the  exceptions  of  the 
Constitution,  and  as  indispensable  to  the  public 
safety 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  240 

I  understand  the  meeting,  whose  resolutions  I 
am  considering,  to  be  in  favor  of  suppressing  the 
rebellion  by  military  force  —  by  armies.  Long 
experience  has  shown  that  armies  cannot  be  main- 
tained unless  desertion  shall  be  punished  by  the 
severe  penalty  of  death.  The  case  requires,  and 
the  law  and  the  Constitution  sanction  this  punish- 
ment. Must  I  shoot  a  simple-minded  soldier-boy 
who  deserts,  while  I  must  not  touch  a  hair  of  a 
wily  agitator  who  induces  him  to  desert  ?  This  is 
none  the  less  injurious  when  effected  by  getting  a 
father,  or  brother,  or  friend,  into  a  public  meeting, 
and  there  working  upon  his  feelings  till  he  is  per- 
suaded to  write  the  soldier-boy  that  he  is  fighting 
in  a  bad  cause,  for  a  wicked  administration  of  a 
contemptible  government,  too  weak  to  arrest  and 
punish  him  if  he  shall  desert.  I  think  that  in  such 
a  case  to  silence  the  agitator  and  save  the  boy,  is 
not  only  constitutional,  but  withal  a  great  mercy. 

Nor  am  I  able  to  appreciate  the  danger  appre- 
hended by  the  meeting,  that  the  American  people 
will,  by  means  of  military  arrests  during  the  rebel- 
lion, lose  the  right  of  public  discussion,  the  liberty 
of  speech  and  the  press,  the  law  of  evidence,  trial 
by  jury,  and  habeas  corpus  throughout  the  indefi- 
nite peaceful  future  which,  I  trust,  lies  before 
them,  any  more  than  I  am  able  to  believe  that  a 
man  could  contract  BO  gtrong  an  appetite  for 


250  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

emetics  during  temporary  illness  as  to  persist  in 
feeding  upon  them  during  the  remainder  of  his 
healthful  life. 

In  giving  the  resolutions  the  earnest  considera- 
tion which  you  request  of  me,  I  cannot  overlook 
the  fact  that  the  meeting  speak  as  "Democrats." 
Nor  can  I  with  full  respect  for  their  known  intel- 
ligence, and  the  fairly  presumed  deliberation  with 
which  they  prepared  these  resolutions,  be  permit- 
ted to  suppose  that  this  occurs  by  accident,  or  in 
any  way  other  than  that  they  prefer  to  designate 
themselves  Democrats  rather  than  American  citi- 
zens. In  this  time  of  national  peril  I  would  have 
preferred  to  meet  you  on  a  level  one  step  higher 
than  any  party  platform,  because  I  am  sure  that 
from  such  more  elevated  position  we  could  do  bet- 
ter battle  for  the  country  we  all  love  than  we  pos- 
sibly can  from  those  lower  ones  where,  from  the 
force  of  habit,  the  prejudices  of  the  past,  and 
selfish  hopes  of  the  future,  we  are  sure  to  expend 
much  of  our  ingenuity  and  strength  in  finding 
fault  with,  and  aiming  blows  at,  each  other.  But, 
since  you  have  denied  me  this,  I  will  yet  be  thank- 
ful, for  the  country's  sake,  that  not  all  Democrats 
have  done  so. 

[Letter  to  James  C.  Conkling.] 

August  16,  1863. 

There  are  those  who  are  dissatisfied 

with  me.    To  such  I  would  say,  You  desire  peace, 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  251 

and  you  blame  me  that  we  do  not  have  it.  But 
how  can  we  obtain  it?  There  are  but  three  con- 
ceivable ways.  First,  to  suppress  the  rebellion 
by  force  of  arms.  This  I  am  trying  to  do.  Are 
you  for  it  ?  If  you  are  so,  we  are  agreed.  If  you 
are  not  for  it,  a  second  way  is  to  give  up  the 
Union.  I  am  against  this.  If  you  are,  you  should 
say  so  plainly.  If  you  are  not  for  force,  nor  yet 
for  dissolution,  there  only  remains  some  imaginary 
compromise.  I  do  not  believe  that  any  compro- 
mise embracing  the  maintenance  of  the  Union  is 
now  possible.  All  that  I  learn  leads  to  a  directly 
opposite  belief.  The  strength  of  the  rebellion  is 
its  military,  its  army.  The  army  dominate  all  the 
country,  and  all  the  people  within  its  range.  Any 
offer  of  terms  made  by  any  man  or  men  within 
that  range  in  opposition  to  that  army  is  simply 
nothing  for  the  present ;  because  such  man  or 
men  have  no  power  whatever  to  enforce  their  side 
of  a  compromise,  if  one  wrere  made  with  them. 

You  dislike  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  and 
perhaps  would  have  it  retracted.  You  say  it  is  un- 
constitutional. I  think  differently.  I  think  the  Con- 
stitution invests  its  Commander-in-chief  with  the 
law  of  war  in  the  time  of  war.  The  most  that  can 
be  said,  if  so  much,  is  that  slaves  are  property. 
Is  there,  has  there  ever  been,  any  question  that  by 
the  law  of  war  property,  both  of  enemies  and 
u 


252  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS, 

friends,  may  be  taken  when  needed?  And  is  it 
not  needed  whenever  taking  it  helps  us  and  hurts 
the  enemy  I  Armies  the  world  over  destroy  ene- 
my's property  when  they  cannot  use  it ;  and  even 
destroy  their  own  to  keep  it  from  the  enemy. 
Civilized  belligerents  do  all  in  their  power  to  help 
themselves  and  hurt  the  enemy,  except  a  few 
things  regarded  as  barbarous  or  cruel.  Among 
the  exceptions  are  the  massacre  of  vanquished  foes 
and  non-combatants,  male  and  female. 

But  the  Proclamation,  as  law,  is  valid,  or  is  not 
valid.  If  it  is  valid,  it  cannot  be  retracted  any 
more  than  the  dead  can  be  brought  to  life.  Some 
of  you  profess  to  think  that  its  retraction  would 
operate  favorably  for  the  Union.  Why  better 
after  the  retraction  than  before  the  issue  ?  There 
was  more  than  a  year  and  a  half  of  trial  to  sup- 
press the  rebellion  before  the  Proclamation  was 
issued,  the  last  one  hundred  days  of  which  passed 
under  an  explicit  notice  that  it  was  coming,  unless 
averted  by  those  in  revolt  returning  to  their 
allegiance.  The  war  has  certainly  progressed  as 
favorably  for  us  since  the  issue  of  the  Proclamation 
as  before 

You  say  you  will  not  fight  to  free  negroes. 
Some  of  them  seem  to  be  willing  to  fight  for  you. 
But  no  matter.  Fight  you  then  exclusively  to 
save  the  Union.  I  issued  the  Proclamation  on 
purpose  to  aid  you  in  saving  the  Union. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  O">3 

Whenever  wo  shall  have  conquered  all  resist- 
ance to  the  Union,  if  I  shall  urge  you  to  continue 
fighting,  it  will  be  an  apt  time  then  for  you  to  de- 
clare that  you  will  not  tight  to  free  negroes. 

I  thought  that  in  your  struggle  for  the  Union,  to 
whatever  extent  the  negroes  should  cease  helping 
the  enemy,  to  that  extent  it  weakened  the  enemy 
in  his  resistance  to  you.  Do  you  think  differently? 
I  thought  that  whatever  negroes  can  be  got  to  do 
as  soldiers  leaves  just  so  much  less  for  white  sol- 
diers to  do  in  saving  the  Union.  Does  it  appear 
otherwise  to  you?  But  negroes,  like  other  peo- 
ple, act  upon  motives.  Why  should  they  do  any- 
thing for  us  if  we  will  do  nothing  for  them?  If 
they  stake  their  lives  for  us  they  must  be 
prompted  by  the  strongest  motive,  even  the 
promise  of  their  freedom.  And  the  promise,  be- 
ing made,  must  be  kept. 

The  signs  look  better.  The  Father  of  Waters 
again  goes  unvexed  to  the  sea.  Thanks  to  the 
great  North-west  for  it.  Nor  yet  wholly  to  them. 
Three  hundred  miles  up  they  met  New  England, 
Empire,  Keystone,  and  Jersey  hewing  their  way 
right  and  left.  The  sunny  South,  too,  in  more 
colors  than  one,  also  lent  a  hand.  On  the  spot 
their  part  of  the  history  was  jotted  down  in  black 
and  white.  The  job  was  a  great  national  one,  and 
let  none  be  banned  who  bore  an  honorable  part  in 
it.  And  while  those  who  have  cleared  the  great 


254  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

river  may  well  be  proud,  even  that  is  not  all.  It 
is  hard  to  say  that  anything  has  been  more  bravely 
or  better  done  than  at  Antietam,  Murfreesboro, 
Gettysburg,  and  on  many  fields  of  lesser  note. 

Nor  must  Uncle  Sam's  web-foot  be  forgotten. 
At  all  the  waters'  margins  they  have  been  present, 
not  only  on  the  deep  sea,  the  broad  bay,  and  the 
rapid  river,  but  also  up  the  narrow,  muddy 
bayou,  and  wherever  the  ground  was  a  little 
damp,  they  have  been  and  made  their  tracks. 

Thanks  to  all.  For  the  great  Republic,  —  for 
the  principles  by  which  it  lives  and  keeps  alive  for 
man's  vast  future,  —  thanks  to  all. 

Peace  does  not  appear  so  distant  as  it  did.  I 
hope  it  will  soon  come,  and  come  to  stay,  and  so 
come  as  to  be  worth  keeping  in  all  future  time. 
It  will  then  have  been  proved  that  among  freemen 
there  can  be  no  successful  appeal  from  the  ballot 
to  the  bullet,  and  that  they  who  take  such  appeal 
are  sure  to  lose  their  case,  and  pay  the  cost. 

And  then  there  will  be  some  black  men  who  can 
remember  that,  with  silent  tongue,  and  clenched 
teeth,  and  steady  eye,  and  well-poised  bayonet, 
they  have  helped  mankind  on  to  this  great  con- 
summation, while  I  fear  there  will  be  some  white 
men  unable  to  forget  that,  with  malignant  heart 
and  deceitful  speech,  they  have  striven  to  hin- 
der it. 

Still,  let  us  not  be  over  sanguine  0*  a  speedy 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  ^55 

final  triumph.  Let  us  be  quite  sober.  Let  us> 
diligently  apply  the  means,  never  doubting  that  a 
just  God,  in  his  own  good  time,  will  give  us  the 
rightful  result. 

[To  Mr.  Colfax,  in  the  winter  of  1863,  the  morning  after 
unfavorable  news  from  the  army.] 

How  willingly  would  I  exchange  places  to-day 
with  the  soldier  who  sleeps  on  the  ground  in  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac. 

[From  liis  third  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December  8, 
18G3.] 

"When  Congress  assembled  a  year  ago, 

the  war  had  already  lasted  nearly  twenty  months, 
and  there  had  been  many  conflicts  on  both  land  and 
sea  with  varying  results.  The  rebellion  had  been 
pressed  back  into  reduced  limits ;  yet  the  tone  of 
public  feeling  and  opinion,  at  home  and  abroad, 
was  not  satisfactory.  With  other  signs,  the  popu- 
lar election,  then  just  passed,  indicated  uneasiness 
among  ourselves,  while  amid  much  that  was  cold 
and  menacing,  the  kindest  Avords  coming  from  Eu- 
rope were  uttered  in  accents  of  pity  that  we  were 
too  blind  to  surrender  a  hopeless  cause. 

[From  a  Speech  after  his  re-election,  November  10,  1864.] 

So  long  as  I  have  been  here  I  have  not  willingly 

planted  a  thorn  in  any  man's  boboui.     While  1  uui 


•256  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

deeply  sensible  of  the  high  compliment  of  a  re- 
election, and  duly  grateful,  I  trust,  to  Almighty 
God  for  having  directed  my  countrymen  to  a  right 
conclusion,  as  I  think,  for  their  own  good,  it  adds 
nothing  to  my  satisfaction  that  any  other  man  may 
be  disappointed  or  pained  by  the  result. 

[To  a  Committee  of  the  New  York  Workingmen's  Republi- 
can Association,  March  21,  1864.] 

The  strongest  bond  of  human  sympathy, 

outside  of  the  family  relation,  should  be  one  unit- 
ing all  working  people,  of  all  nations,  tongues,  and 
kindreds.  Nor  should  this  lead  to  a  war  upon 
property  or  the  owners  of  property.  Property  is 
the  fruit  of  labor ;  property  is  desirable,  is  a  posi- 
tive good  in  the  world.  That  some  should  be  rich 
shows  that  others  may  become  rich,  and  hence  is 
just  encouragement  to  independence  and  enter- 
prise. Let  not  him  who  is  houseless  pull  down 
the  house  of  another,  but  let  him  labor  diligently 
and  build  one  for  himself;  thus  by  example  as- 
suring that  his  own  shall  be  safe  from  violence 
when  built. 

[From  a  letter  to  Colonel  Hodges,  of  Kentucky.] 

WASHINGTON,  April  4,  1864. 

You  ask  me  to  put  in  writing  the  substance  of 
what  I  verbally  said  the  other  day  in  your  pres- 
ence to  Governor  Bramlette  and  Senator  Dixon. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  257 

It  was  about  as  follows:  "I  am  naturally  anti- 
tslavery.  If  slavery  is  not  wrong,  nothing  is 
wrong.  I  cannot  remember  when  I  did  not  so 
think  and  feel,  and  yet  I  have  never  understood 
that  the  Presidency  conferred  upon  me  an  unre- 
stricted right  to  act  officially  upon  this  judgment 
and  feeling.  It  was  in  the  oath  I  took  that  I  would 
to  the  best  of  my  ability  preserve,  protect,  and 
defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  I 
could  not  take  the  office  without  taking  the  oath. 
Nor  was  it  in  my  view  that  I  might  take  an  oath 
to  get  power,  and  break  the  oath  in  using  the 
power.  I  understand,  too,  that  in  ordinary  and 
civil  administration  this  oath  even  forbids  me  to 
practically  indulge  my  primary  abstract  judgment 
on  the  moral  question  of  slavery.  I  had  publicly 
declared  this  at  many  times  and  in  many  ways. 
And  I  aver  that,  to  this  day,  I  have  done  no  offi- 
cial act  in  mere  deference  to  my  abstract  judgment 
and  feeling  on  slavery.  I  did  understand,  how- 
ever, that  my  oath  to  preserve  the  Constitution  to 
the  best  of  my  ability  imposed  upon  me  the  duty 
of  preserving,  by  every  indispensable  means,  that 
Government  —  that  nation  —  of  which  the  Consti- 
tution was  the  organic  law.  Was  it  possible  to 
lose  the  nation,  and  yet  preserve  the  Constitution? 
By  general  law,  life  and  limb  must  be  protected ; 
yet  often  a  limb  must  be  amputated,  to  save  a  life ; 


258  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

but  a  life  is  never  wisely  given  to  save  a  limb.  I 
felt  that  measures,  otherwise  unconstitutional, 
might  become  lawful  by  becoming  indispensable  to 
the  preservation  of  the  Constitution,  through  the 
preservation  of  the  nation.  Right  or  wrong,  I  as- 
sumed this  ground ;  and  now  avow  it.  I  could 
not  feel  that,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  I  had  even 
tried  to  preserve  the  Constitution,  if,  to  save 
slavery,  or  any  minor  matter,  I  should  permit  the 
wreck  of  government,  country,  and  constitution 
all  together.  ...  I  add  a  word  which  was  not  in 
the  verbal  conversation.  In  telling  this  tale,  I  at- 
tempt no  compliments  to  my  own  sagacity.  I 
claim  not  to  have  controlled  events,  but  confess 
plainly  that  events  have  controlled  me.  Now  at 
the  end  of  three  years'  struggle  the  nation's  con- 
dition is  not  what  either  party  or  any  man  devised 
or  expected.  God  alone  can  claim  it.  Whither 
it  is  tending  seems  plain.  If  God  now  wills  the 
removal  of  a  great  wrong,  and  wills  also  that  we 
of  the  North,  as  well  as  you  of  the  South,  shall 
pay  fairly  for  our  complicity  in  that  wrong,  impar- 
tial history  will  find  therein  new  causes  to  attest 
and  revere  the  justice  and  goodness  of  God," 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  259 

[From   Carpenter's   "Six   Months  at  tlio  White  House," 
1865.] 

I  put  the  draft  of  the  Emancipation  Proclama- 
tion* aside,  waiting  for  a  victory.  Well,  the  next 
news  we  had  was  of  Pope's  disaster  at  Bull  Run. 
Things  looked  darker  than  ever.  Finally  came 
the  week  of  the  battle  of  Antictam  [September  17, 
18G2].  I  determined  to  wait  no  longer.  The 
news  came,  I  think,  on  Monday,  that  the  advan- 
tage was  on  our  side.  I  was  then  staying  at  the 
Soldiers'  Home.  Here  I  finished  writing  the  sec- 
ond draft  of  the  proclamation ;  came  up  on  Satur- 
day ;  called  the  cabinet  together  to  hear  it,  and  it 
was  published  the  following  Monday.  I  made  a 
solemn  VOWT  before  God,  that  if  General  Lee  was 
driven  back  from  Maryland,  I  would  crown  the 
result  by  the  declaration  of  freedom  to  the  slaves. 

As  affairs  have  turned,  it  is  the  central  act  of 
my  administration,  and  the  great  event  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

[From  Noah  Urooks's  "  Reminiscences."] 

I  should  be  the  most  presumptuous  blockhead 
upon  this  footstool,  if  I,  for  one  day,  thought  that 
I  could  discharge  the  duties  which  have  come  upon 

*  The  original  draft  was  prepared  in  the  July  preceding 
when  the  Federal  forces  were  in  the  midst  of  reverse*. 


260  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTEKS. 

me  since  I  came  into  this  place,  without  the  aid 
and  enlightenment  of  One,  who  is  stronger  and 
wiser  than  all  others. 

[From  "  Six  Months,"  &c.] 

I  have  never  united  myself  to  any  church,  be- 
cause I  have  found  difficulty  in  giving  my  assent, 
without  mental  reservation,  to  the  long,  compli- 
cated statements  of  Christian  doctrine  which  char- 
acterize their  Articles  of  Belief  and  Confessions  of 
Faith.  When  any  church  will  inscribe  over  its 
altar,  as  its  sole  qualification  for  membership,  the 
Saviour's  condensed  statement  of  the  substance 
of  both  law  and  gospel,  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 
and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thy- 
self," that  church  will  I  join  with  all  my  heart  and 
all  my  soul.* 

You  say  your  husband  is  a  religious  man ;  tell 
him,  when  you  meet  him,  that  I  say  I  am  not 
much  of  a  judge  of  religion,  but  that,  in  my  opin- 
ion, the  religion  which  sets  men  to  rebel  and  fight 
against  their  government,  because,  as  they  think, 
that  government  does  not  sufficiently  help  some 
men  to  eat  their  bread  in  the  sweat  of  other  men's 

•  Said  to  Hon.  11.  C.  Deming. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  261 

faces,  is  not  the  sort  of  religion  upon  which  people 
can  get  to  heaven.* 

Here  are  twenty-three  ministers,  [of  Spring- 
field, Illinois,]  of  different  denominations,  and  all 
of  them  are  against  me  f  but  three ;  and  here  are 
a  great  many  prominent  members  of  the  churches, 
a  very  large  majority  are  against  me.  Mr.  Bate- 
man,  I  am  not  a  Christian,  —  God  knows  I  would 
be  one,  — but  I  have  carefully  read  the  Bible,  and 
I  do  not  so  understand  this  book.J  These  men 
well  know  that  I  am  for  freedom  in  the  Territories, 
freedom  everywhere  as  free  as  the  constitution  and 
the  laws  will  permit,  and  that  my  opponents  are 
for  slavery.  They  know  this,  and  yet,  with  this 
book  in  their  hands,  in  the  light  of  which  human 
bondage  cannot  live  a  moment,  they  are  going  to 
vote  ajrainst  me ;  I  do  not  understand  it  at 

o 

all 

Doesn't  it  appear  strange  that  men  can  ignore 
the  moral  aspect  of  this  contest?  A  revelation 
could  not  make  it  plainer  to  me  that  slavery  or 
the  government  must  be  destroyed.  The  future 
would  be  something  awful,  as  I  look  at  it,  but  for 
this  rock  on  which  I  stand,  [alluding  to  the  Testa- 

*  Said  to  a  lady  from  Tennessee,  who  asked  the  release 
of  her  husband,  N.  Brook,  held  as  prisoner  of  war. 
t  In  the  canvass  for  United  States  senator. 
J  He  had  in  his  hand  a  copy  of  tliu  New  Testament. 


262  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS 

ment,  which  he  still  held  in  his  hand,]  especially 
with  the  knowledge  of  how  these  ministers  are 
going  to  vote.  It  seems  as  if  God  had  borne  with 
this  thing  [slavery]  until  the  very  teachers  of  reli- 
gion had  come  to  defend  it  from  the  Bible,  and  to 
claim  for  it  a  divine  character  and  sanction ;  and 
now  the  cup  of  iniquity  is  full,  and  the  vials  of 
wrath  will  be  poured  out.* 

[With  reference  to  a  remark  made  by  a  lady :  "  Some  men 
seem  able  to  do  what  they  wish  in  any  position,  being 
equal  to  them  all,"  Mr.  Lincoln  replied]  : 

Versatility  is  an  injurious  possession,  since  it 
can  never  be  greatness.  It  misleads  you  in  your 
calculations  from  its  very  agreeability,  and  it  inev- 
itably disappoints  you  in  any  great  trust  from  its 
want  of  depth.  A  versatile  man,  to  be  safe  from 
execration,  should  never  soar ;  mediocrity  is  sure 
of  detection.  c. 

There  is  no  more  dangerous  or  expensive  anal- 
ysis than  that  of  trying  a  man.  c. 

[From  an  article  in  the   New    York   Citizen,   by   Colonel 
Charles  G.  Halpine,  containing  an  account  of  an  inter- 
view with  President  Lincoln.     The  reference  is  to  pres- 
idential receptions.] 
But  the  office  of  President  is  essentially 

a  civil  one.     For  myself,  I  feel  —  though  the  tax 

*  Said  privately  to  Mr.  Newton  Bateman,  Superintendent 
for  Public  Institutions  for  the  State  of  Illinois,  residing  at 
Springfield. — Holland's  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  :»(}:* 

on  my  time  is  heavy  —  that  no  hours  of  my  day 
are  better  employed  than  those  which  thus  bring 
me  again  within  the  direct  contact  and  atmosphere 
of  the  average  of  our  whole  people.  Men  moving 
only  in  an  official  circle  are  apt  to  become  merely 
official  —  not  to  say  arbitrary  —  in  their  ideas,  and 
are  apter  and  apter,  with  each  passing  day,  to  for- 
get that  they  only  hold  power  in  a  representative 
capacity.  Now  this  is  all  wrong.  I  go  into  these 
promiscuous  receptions  of  all  who  claim  to  have 
business  with  me  twice  each  week,  and  every  ap- 
plicant for  audience  has  to  take  his  turn,  as  if 
waiting  to  be  shaved  in  a  barber's  shop.  Many 
of  the  matters  brought  to  my  notice  are  utterly 
frivolous,  but  others  are  of  more  or  less  impor- 
tance, and  all  seem  to  renew  in  me  a  clearer  and 
more  vivid  image  of  that  great  popular  assemblage 
out  of  which  I  sprung,  and  to  which,  at  the  end 
of  two  years,  I  must  return.  I  tell  you  that  I 
call  these  receptions  my  public-opinion  baths;  for 
I  have  but  little  time  to  read  the  papers,  and 
gather  public  opinion  that  way ;  and  though  they 
may  not  be  pleasant,  in  all  their  particulars,  tho 
effect,  as  a  whole,  is  renovating  and  invigorating 
to  my  perceptions  of  responsibility  and  duty. 

[In  reply  to  the  remark  of  a  clergyman  that  he  "  hoped  the 
Lord  was  on  our  side,"  Mr.  Lincoln  said] : 
I  am  not  at  all  concerned  about  that,  for  I  know 

that  the  Lord  is  always  on  the  side  of  the  right. 


264  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

But  it  is  my  constant  anxiety  and  prayer  that  I 
and  this  nation  should  be  on  the  Lord's  side.     o. 

[After  the  repeal  of  the  Fugitive-slave  law,  in  June,  1864, 
Mr.  Lincoln  said] : 

"  There  have  been  men  base  enough  to  propose 
to  me  to  return  to  slavery  our  black  warriors  of 
Port  Hudson  and  Olustee,  and  thus  win  the  respect 
of  the  masters  they  fought.  Should  I  do  so,  I 
should  deserve  to  be  damned  in  time  and  eternity. 
Come  what  will,  I  will  keep  my  faith  with  friend  and 
foe.  My  enemies  pretend  I  am  now  carrying  on 
this  war  for  the  sole  purpose  of  abolition.  So  long 
as  I  am  President  it  shall  be  carried  on  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  restoring  the  Union;  but  no  human 
power  can  subdue  this  rebellion  without  the  use 
of  the  emancipation  policy,  and  every  other  policy 
calculated  to  weaken  the  moral  and  physical  forces 
of  the  rebellion." 

[In  the  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December  6, 1864,  Mr. 
Lincoln  said] : 

"In  presenting  the  abandonment  of  armed  re- 
sistance to  the  national  authority  on  the  part  of 
the  insurgents  as  the  only  indispensable  condition 
to  ending  the  war  on  the  part  of  the  government, 
I  retract  nothing  heretofore  said  as  to  slavery. 

"  I  repeat  the  declaration  made  a  year  ago,  that 
while  I  remain  in  my  present  position  I  shall  not 
attempt  to  retract  or  modify  the  Emancipation 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  265 

Proclamation.  Nor  shall  I  return  to  slavery  any 
person  who  is  free  by  the  terms  of  that  proclama- 
tion or  by  any  of  the  acts  of  Congress.  If  the 
people  should,  by  whatever  mode  or  means,  make 
it  an  executive  duty  to  re-enslave  such  persons, 
another,  and  not  I,  must  be  their  instrument  to 
perform  it.  In  stating  a  single  condition  of  peace, 
I  mean  simply  to  say  that  the  war  will  cease  on 
the  part  of  the  government  whenever  it  shall  have 
ceased  on  the  part  of  those  who  began  it." 

[Of  his  second  inaugural  address,  the  London  Spectator 
said:  "We  cannot  read  it  without  a  renewed  conviction  that 
it  is  the  noblest  political  document  known  to  history,  and 
should  have  for  the  nation  and  the  statesmen  he  left  behind 
him  something  of  a  sacred  and  almost  prophetic  character. 
Surely,  none  was  ever  written  under  a  stronger  sense  of  the 
reality  of  God's  government  And  certainly  none  written 
in  a  period  of  passionate  conflict  ever  so  completely  ex- 
cluded the  partiality  of  victorious  faction,  and  breathed 
BO  pure  a  strain  of  mingled  justice  and  mercy." 

"  No  statement  of  the  true  objects  of  the  war  more  com- 
plete than  this  has  ever  been  made.  It  includes  them  all  — 
Nationality,  Liberty,  Equal  Rights,  and  Self-Government. 
These  are  the  principles  for  which  the  Union  soldier  fought, 
and  which  it  was  his  aim  to  maintain  and  to  perpetuate."  - 
President  Hayes,  September,  1878. 

Of  Mr.  Lincoln's  second  inaugural,  M.  Edouard  Labou- 
laye  said :  "  His  inaugural  address  shows  us  what  progress 
had  been  made  in  his  soul.  This  piece  of  familiar  elo- 
quence is  a  masterpiece ;  it  is  the  testament  of  a  patriot. 
...  I  do  not  believe  that  any  eulogy  of  the  President 


266  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

would  equal  this  page,  in  which  he  has  depicted  himself  in 
all  his  greatness  and  in  all  his  simplicity."] 

[Second  Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1865.] 

Fellow  Countrymen :  At  this  second  appearing 
to  take  the  oath  of  the  Presidential  office,  there  is 
less  occasion  for  an  extended  address  than  there 
was  at  the  first.  Then  a  statement  somewhat  in 
detail  of  a  course  to  bo  pursued  seemed  very 
fitting  and  proper.  Now,  at  the  expiration  of 
four  years,  during  which  public  declarations 
have  been  constantly  called  forth  on  every  point 
and  phase  of  the  great  contest  which  still  absorbs 
the  attention  and  engrosses  tho  energies  of  the 
nation,  little  that  is  new  could  be  presented. 

The  progress  of  our  arms,  upon  which  all  else 
chiefly  depends,  is  as  well  known  to  the  public  as 
to  myself;  and  it  is,  I  trust,  reasonably  satisfactory 
and  encouraging  to  all.  With  high  hope  for  the 
future,  no  prediction  in  regard  to  it  is  ventured. 

On  the  occasion  corresponding  to  this,  four 
years  ago,  all  thoughts  were  anxiously  directed 
to  an  impending  civil  war.  All  dreaded  it;  all 
sought  to  avoid  it.  While  the  inaugural  address 
was  being  delivered  from  this  place,  devoted  alto- 
gether to  saving  the  Union  without  war,  insurgent 
agents  were  in  the  city,  seeking  to  destroy  it  with- 
out war,  —  seeking  to  dissolve  the  Union  and 
divide  the  effects  by  negotiation.  Both  parties 


ABRAHA.If  LINCOLN.  267 

deprecated  war ;  but  one  of  them  would  make  war 
rather  than  let  the  nation  survive,  and  the  other 
would  accept  war  rather  than  let  it  perish ;  and 
the  war  came. 

One  eighth  of  the  whole  population  were  colored 
slaves,  not  distributed  generally  over  the  Union, 
but  localized  in  the  Southern  part  of  it.  These 
slaves  constituted  a  peculiar  and  powerful  interest. 
All  knew  that  this  interest  was  somehow  the  cause 
of  the  war.  To  strengthen,  perpetuate,  and  ex- 
tend this  interest,  was  the  object  for  which  the 
insurgents  would  rend  the  Union,  even  by  war, 
while  the  government  claimed  no  right  to  do  more 
than  to  restrict  the  territorial  enlargement  of  it. 

Neither  party  expected  for  the  war  the  magni- 
tude or  the  duration  which  it  has  already  attained. 
Neither  anticipated  that  the  cause  of  the  conflict 
might  cease  with,  or  even  before  the  conflict  itself 
should  cease.  Each  looked  for  an  easier  triumph, 
and  a  result  less  fundamental  and  astounding. 

Both  read  the  same  Bible,  and  pray  to  the  same 
God,  and  each  invokes  his  aid  against  the  other. 
It  may  seem  strange  that  any  men  should  dare  to 
ask  a  just  God's  assistance  in  wringing  their  bread 
from  the  sweat  of  other  men's  faces ;  but  let  us 
judge  not,  that  we  be  not  judged.  The  prayer  of 
both  could  not  be  answered.  That  of  neither  has 
been  answered  fully.  The  Almighty  has  his  own 
purposes.  "Woe  unto  the  world  because  of  of- 
u 


268  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

4» 

fences,  for  it  must  needs  be  that  offences  come ; 
but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the  offence  cometh." 
If  we  shall  suppose  that  American  slavery  is  one 
of  these  offences  which,  in  the  providence  of  God, 
must  needs  come,  but  which,  having  continued 
through  his  appointed  time,  he  now  wills  to  re- 
move, and  that  he  gives  to  both  North  and  South 
this  terrible  war  as  the  woe  due  to  those  by  whom 
the  offence  came,  shall  we  discern  therein  any  de- 
parture from  those  divine  attributes  which  the 
believers  in  a  living  God  always  ascribe  to  him  ? 

Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that 
this  mighty  scourge  of  war  may  soon  pass  away. 
Yet  if  God  wills  that  it  continue  until  all  the 
wealth  piled  by  the  bondman's  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and 
until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash 
shall  be  paid  with  another  drawn  with  the  sword ; 
as  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it 
must  be  said,  "The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are 
true  and  righteous  altogether." 

With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all, 
with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see 
the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we 
are  in,  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds,  to  care  for 
him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his 
widow  and  orphans,  to  do  all  which  may  achieve 
and  cherish  a  just  and  a  lasting  peace  among  our- 
selves and  with  all  nations. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  l>(i9 

[From  an  Address,  March  7,  1865.] 

I  have  always  thought  that  all  men  should  be 
free;  but  if  any  should  be  slaves,  it  should  be 
first  those  who  desire  it  for  themselves,  and  sec- 
ondly, those  who  desire  it  for  others. 

I  have  been  driven  many  times  to  my  knees  by 
the  overwhelming  conviction  that  I  had  nowhere 
else  to  go.  My  own  wisdom,  and  that  of  all  about 
me,  seemed  insufficient  for  that  day.* 

I  do  order  and  declare  that  all  persons  held  as 
slaves  .  .  .  shall  be  free.  .  .  .  And  upon  this 
act,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an  act  of  justice, 
warranted  by  the  Constitution  upon  military  ne- 
cessity, I  invoke  the  considerate  judgment  of 
mankind  and  the  gracious  favor  of  Almighty 
God. 

[The  Emancipation  Proclamation  in  the  Cabinet.  From 
the  Diary  of  Secretary  Salmon  P.  Chase,  September  22, 
1862.] 

Gentlemen, — I  have,  as  you  are  aware,  thought  a 
great  deal  about  the  relation  of  this  war  to  slavery, 
and  you  all  remember  that,  several  weeks  ago,  I 
read  to  you  an  order  I  had  prepared  upon  the  sub- 
ject, which,  on  account  of  objections  made  by 
some  of  you,  was  not  issued.  Ever  since  then 

•  From  Holland's  "  Life  of  Lincoln." 


270  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

my  mind  has  been  occupied  with  this  subject,  and 
I  have  thought  all  along  that  the  time  for  acting 
on  it  might  probably  come.  I  think  the  time  has 
come  now.  I  wish  it  was  a  better  time.  I  wish  that 
we  were  in  a  better  condition.  The  action  of  the 
army  against  the  rebels  has  not  been  quite  what  I 
should  have  best  liked.  But  they  have  been  driven 
out  of  Maryland,  and  Pennsylvania  is  no  longer  in 
danger  of  invasion.  When  the  rebel  army  was  at 
Frederick,  I  determined,  as  soon  as  it  should  be 
driven  out  of  Maryland,  to  issue  a  proclamation 
of  emancipation,  such  as  I  thought  most  likely  to 
be  useful.  I  said  nothing  to  any  one,  but  I  made 
a  promise  to  myself  and  [hesitating  a  little]  to 
my  Maker.  The  rebel  army  is  now  driven  out, 
and  I  am  going  to  fulfil  that  promise.  I  have  got 
you  together  to  hear  what  I  have  written  down. 
I  do  not  wish  your  advice  about  the  main  matter, 
for  that  I  have  determined  for  myself.  This  I  say 
without  intending  anything  but  respect  for  any 
one  of  you.  But  I  already  know  the  views  of 
each  on  this  question.  They  have  been  heretofore 
expressed,  and  I  have  considered  them  as  thor- 
oughly and  carefully  as  I  can.  What  I  have 
written  is  that  which  my  reflections  have  deter- 
mined me  to  say.  If  there  is  anything  in  the  ex- 
pressions I  use,  or  in  any  minor  matter,  which  any 
one  of  you  thinks  had  best  be  changed,  I  shall  be 
glad  to  receive  your  suggestions.  One  other  ob- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  07  \ 

servation  I  will  make.  I  know  very  well  that 
many  others  might,  in  this  matter  as  in  others, 
do  better  than  I  can ;  and  if  I  was  satisfied  that 
the  public  confidence  was  more  fully  possessed  by 
any  one  of  them  than  by  me,  and  knew  of  any 
constitutional  way  in  which  he  could  be  put  in  my 
place,  he  should  have  it.  I  would  gladly  yield  it 
to  him.  But  though  I  believe  that  I  have  not  so 
much  of  the  confidence  of  the  people  as  I  had 
sometime  since,  I  do  not  know  that,  all  things  con- 
sidered, any  other  person  has  more  ;  and,  however 
this  may  be,  there  is  no  way  in  which  I  can  have 
any  other  man  put  where  I  am.  I  am  here.  I 
must  do  the  best  I  can,  I  bear  the  responsibility 
of  taking  the  course  which  I  feel  1  ou^ht  to  take. 

t?  o 

[From  "  Six  Months,"  etc.] 

Many  of  my  strongest  supporters  urged  eman- 
cipation before  I  thought  it  indispensable,  and,  I 
may  say,  before  I  thought  the  country  ready  for  it. 
It  is  my  conviction,  that,  had  the  proclamntion 
been  issued  even  six  monlhs  earlier  than  it  was, 
public  sentiment  would  not  have  sustained  it. 
Just  so  as  to  the  subsequent  action  in  reference  to 
enlisting  blacks  in  the  Border  States.  The  step, 
taken  sooner,  could  not,  in  my  judgment,  have 
been  carried  out.  A  man  watches  his  pear-tree 
day  after  day,  impatient  for  the  ripening  of  the 
fruit.  Let  him  attempt  to  force  the  process,  and 


272  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

he  may  spoil  both  fruit  and  tree.  But  let  him 
patiently  wait,  and  the  ripe  pear  at  length  falls 
into  his  lap  1  We  have  seen  this  great  revolution 
in  public  sentiment  slowly  but  surely  progressing, 
so  that,  when  final  action  came,  the  opposition  was 
not  strong  enough  to  defeat  the  purpose.  I  can 
now  solemnly  assert  that  I  have  a  clear  conscience 
in  regard  to  my  action  on  this  momentous  ques- 
tion. I  have  done  what  no  man  could  have  helped 
doing,  standing  in  my  place. 

[Dedicatory  Address  at  Gettysburg.*] 
Four  score  and   seven  years  ago   our  fathers 
brought  forth  upon  this  continent  a  new  nation, 
conceived  in  liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the  propo- 
sition that  all  men  are  created  equal. 

Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing 
whether  that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived 
and  so  dedicated,  can  long  endure.  We  are  met 
on  a  great  battle-field  of  that  war.  We  are  met 
to  dedicate  a  portion  of  it  as  the  final  resting-place 
of  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that  nation 
might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper 
that  we  should  do  this. 

*  "  His  brief  speech  at  Gettysburg  will  not  easily  be  sur- 
passed by  words  on  any  recorded  occasion.  This,  and  one 
American  speech,  —  that  of  John  Brown  to  the  court  that 
tried  him,  —  and  part  of  Kossuth's  speech  at  Birmingham, 
can  only  be  compared  with  each  other,  and  with  no  fourth." 
—  B.  W.  Emcrsvn. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  *J73 

But  in  a  larger  sense  we  cannot  dedicate,  we 
cannot  consecrate,  we  cannot  hallow  this  ground. 
The  brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled 
here,  have  consecrated  it  far  above  our  power  to 
add  or  detract.  The  world  will  little  note  nor 
long  remember  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never 
forget  what  they  did  here.  It  is  for  us  the  living 
rather  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the  unfinished  work 
that  they  have  thus  far  so  nobly  carried  on.  It 
is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great 
task  remaining  before  us — that  from  these  honored 
dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to  the  cause  for 
which  they  here  gave  the  last  full  measure  of 
devotion — that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  the 
dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain  ;  that  the  nation 
shall,  under  God,  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom, 
and  that  the  government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people,  and  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from 
the  earth. 

[When  Mr.  Lincoln  had  ended  his  speech,  which 
had  been  preceded  by  a  long  and  eloquent  one  by 
Edward  Everett,  he  turned  and  congratulated  the 
latter  on  having  succeeded  so  well.  "Ah,  Mr. 
Lincoln,"  was  the  reply,  "how  gladly  would  I 
exchange  all  my  one  hundred  pages,  to  have  been 
the  author  of  your  twenty  lines."] 


274  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 
EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON,  July  13,  1863.* 

To  MAJOR  GENERAL  GRANT. 

My  Dear  General :  I  do  not  remember  that 
you  and  I  ever  met  personally.  I  write  this  now 
as  a  grateful  acknowledgment  for  the  almost 
inestimable  service  you  have  done  the  country.  I 
wish  to  say  a  word  further.  When  you  first 
reached  the  vicinity  of  Vicksburg,  I  thought  you 
should  do  what  you  finally  did,  march  the  troops 
across  the  Neck,  run  the  batteries,  with  the  trans- 
ports, and  thus  go  below.  I  never  had  any  faith, 
except  a  general  hope, that  you  knew  better  than  I 
did  ;  that  the  Yazoo  Pass  Expedition,  and  the  like, 
could  succeed.  When  you  got  below,  and  took 
Port  Gibson,  Grand  Gulf  and  vicinity,  I  thought 
you  should  go  down  the  river  and  join  Gen.  Banks ; 
and  when  you  turned  northward,  east  of  the  Big 
Black,  I  feared  it  was  a  mistake.  I  now  wish  to 
make  a  personal  acknowledgment  that  you  were 
right  and  I  was  wrong. 

Yours  very  truly,         A.  LINCOLN. 

[Written  after  the  Battle  of  Chattanooga,  18G3.] 

To  GENERAL  GRANT  :  .  .  .  Understanding  that 
your  lodgment  at  Chattanooga  and  at  Knoxville 
is  now  secure,  I  wish  to  tender  you  and  all  under 
your  command  my  more  than  thanks,  my  pro- 

*  After  the  capture  of  Vicksburg. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.   '  275 

foundest  gratitude  for  the  skill,  courage,  and  per- 
severance with  which  you  and  they,  over  so  great 
difficulties,  have  effected  the  important  object. 
God  bless  you  all. 

[To  General  Grant,  April  30,  1861.] 

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  GRANT:  Not  expecting 
to  see  you  before  the  Spring  campaign  opens,  I 
wish  to  express,  in  this  way,  my  entire  satisfaction 
with  what  you  have  done  up  to  this  time,  so  far  as 
I  understand  it.  The  particulars  of  your  plans  I 
neither  know  nor  seek  to  know. 

You  are  vigilant  and  self-reliant,  and,  pleased 
with  this,  I  wish  not  to  obtrude  any  restraints 
or  constraints  upon  3rou.  While  I  am  very  anx- 
ious that  any  great  disaster  or  capture  of  our  men 
in  great  numbers  shall  be  avoided,  I  know  that 
these  points  are  less  likely  to  escape  your  attention 
than  they  would  be  mine.  If  there  be  anything 
wanting  which  is  within  my  power  to  give,  do  not 
fail  to  let  me  know  it.  And  now,  with  a  brave 
army  and  a  just  cause,  may  God  sustain  you. 

[In  reply  to  a  deputation  from  the  National  Union 
League,  June  8,  1864,  who  congratulated  him  upon 
his  re-nomination  for  the  Presidency,  Mr.  Lincoln 
said:]  .  .  .  "I  have  not  permitted  myself,  gentle- 
men, to  conclude  that  I  am  the  best  man  in  the 
country ;  but  I  am  reminded  in  this  connection  of 


276  SELECTIONS  FROM  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS. 

a  story  of  an  old  Dutch  farmer,  who  remarked  to 
a  companion  once,  that  'it  was  not  best  to  swop 
horses  when  crossing  streams.' " 

[From  a  letter  written  December  11,  1864]  : 

w  You  say  you  are  praying  for  the  war  to  end. 
So  am  I,  but  I  want  it  to  end  right.  God  alone 
knows  how  anxious  I  am  to  see  these  rivers  of 
blood  cease  to  flow ;  but  they  must  flow  until  trea- 
son hides  its  head." 

It  matters  not  to  me  whether  Shakespeare  be 
well  or  ill  acted ;  with  him  the  thought  suffices. 

There  is  one  passage  of  the  play  of  "  Hamlet " 
which  is  very  apt  to  be  slurred  over  by  the  actor, 
or  omitted  altogether,  which  seems  to  me  the 
choicest  part  of  the  play.  It  is  the  soliloquy  of 
the  king  after  the  murder.  It  always  struck  me 
as  one  of  the  finest  touches  of  nature  in  this  world. 

The  opening  of  the  play  of  "  King  Richard  the 
Third "  seems  to  me  often  entirely  misappre- 
hended. It  is  quite  common  for  an  actor  to  come 
upon  the  stage,  and,  in  a  sophomoric  style,  to  be- 
gin with  a  flourish : 

"  Now  is  the  winter  of  our  discontent 
Made  glorious  summer  by  this  sun  of  York, 
And  all  the  clouds  that  lowered  upon  our  house, 
In  the  deep  bosom  of  the  ocean  buried." 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  277 

Now  this  is  all  wrong.  Richard,  remember, 
had  been,  and  was  then,  plotting  the  destruction 
of  his  brothers,  to  make  room  for  himself.  Out- 
wardly, the  most  loyal  to  the  newly-crowned  king, 
secretly,  he  could  scarcely  contain  his  impatience 
at  the  obstacles  still  in  the  way  of  his  own  eleva- 
tion. He  appears  upon  the  stuge,  just  after  the 
crowning  of  Edward,  burning  with  repressed  hute 
and  jealousy.  The  prologue  is  the  utterance  of 
the  most  intense  bitterness  and  satire. 

[From  a  letter  written  just  before  the  assassination.] 

I  assure  you  that  as  soon  as  the  business  of  this 
war  is  settled,  the  Indians  shall  have  my  first  at- 
tention ;  and  I  will  not  rest  until  they  shall  have  jus- 
tice with  which  both  you  and  they  will  be  satisfied. 

There  are  some  quaint,  queer,  verses,  written,  I 
think,  by  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  entitled,  "The 
Last  Leaf,"  one  of  which  is  to  me  inexpressibly 
touching : 

•'  The  mossy  marbles  rest 
On  the  lips  that  he  has  pressed 

In  their  bloom ; 

And  the  names  he  loved  to  hear 
Have  been  carved  for  many  a  year 
On  the  tomb." 

For  pure  pathos,  in  my  judgment,  there  is  noth- 
ing finer  than  those  six  lines  in  tlie  English  lan- 
guage. 


